Jungle Faith
by Corration
Summary: Last of the Jungle trilogy. After Blu's near-death experience, Tulio asks for help in order to protect Jewel and Blu. America seeks the help of an inventor/scientist to go to Rio and build some protection for the blue birds.
1. Prologue

A young scientist was on his way to Rio. He was overlooking the letter again the USEPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, sent him only two days ago. He was frustrated when he got the letter, but then he saw the offer: $100,000. He had to read the letter three times before calling the EPA and saying yes. They were squandering his talents, but this was quick, easy money. All for the sanity to preserve the last of the Spix's Macaws. These hippies, as he referred to them, were adding to the deficit in the United States. Instead of offering jobs, giving more to their employees, they decided to save near-extinct macaws that would probably die in a few years. He folded the letter and tucked it in the pocket of his Levis pants.

A hero, he thought. I'm a hero. I have saved the lives of many people, make superb weapons, and promote high school students to show that a kid like me could do something incredible. I've sacrificed so much, including my entire family. Even my own life is threatened from time to time. I even protect those who hate me, including the EPA. They say I pollute too much. Ha! China pollutes a million times more than me. I have the cleanest lab in the world, yet they critic me. But when they need something, they know I have the technology. Sure, they could've asked Disney. They created that life-like dinosaur called Lucky, but they know I make a better life animatron. And cheaper too. I bet Disney would do it for a million or more. Oh well. I agreed, so I shouldn't complain.

He slouched back in his airplane seat. He closed his eyes and went to sleep. However, he didn't sleep long. A woman tapped his shoulder. He opened his brown eyes and faced the man. This woman was a flight attendant.

"Sir, may I offer some refreshments?"

He ran his hands with long, sharp nails through his brownish black hair. He was the average height for an Hispanic man. He had tanned white skin and brownish eyes. As far as a normal alternative life went, he was just an average college student going to Rio. He smiled at the attendant.

"No thanks."

The attendant nodded and left him to ask other people. He narrowed his eyes, thinking of something. He had forgotten the name of the doctor he was supposed to meet. The EPA informed him there was going to be a scientist in proper uniform with a cardboard box with his name on it. He got out the letter again and read it. The EPA did mention a name on the paper.

Where is it, where is it? Ah. Here it is. Doctor Tulio Monterio. Hm, an ornithologist. He must be very good if he's in charge of the last two Spix's Macaws.

He felt breathing. He slowly turned to his right and met a sleeping lady. Her head was rested on the seat, towards him. It was fine, but her mouth was opened, letting all of the bad breath out. His sensitive noise caught it, and it made the breath smell ten times worse than what humans would smell. He plucked his nose lightly to breathe smoothly as he tried to block out some of the bad breath. He grunted to himself.

Should have asked for a private jet.


	2. Parenthood

Jewel's eyes sprang open as the sun rose. It wasn't necessarily the rays of the sun entering the den that woke her up. Her three chicks were crying already. She stood up and approached them.

"There, there. Mama's here."

She gently hugged all three chicks as they continued to chirp. She let go of the embrace and looked over to find her snoring mate. She sighed and dragged her feet over to him, calling him.

"Blu. Blu."

Blu stirred, but he failed to awake. He lifted his head up momentarily and tucked it back down. He smacked his beak together and continued to sleep. Jewel shook her head and patted his cheek with her wing.

"Honey, wake up. The chicks are calling us."

After the third pat, Blu opened his eyes. He lazily looked in front of him, seeing a blue bird's body, and then lifted his head up to see Jewel's face.

"Good morning."

"Good morning yourself," she chuckled. "C'mon. Our babies need us."

Jewel walked towards the babies. Blu yawned and lifted himself up. He stretched his wings and walked slowly towards the nest. He saw the chicks. They had grown some feathers. Two were dark blue, and one was light blue. One of the darker blue babies had amber eyes like Blu's eyes while the other two babies had green eyes like Jewel's eyes.

"Shhhhhhh," Jewel blew in a soothing sound. "It's okay. We're both here."

"Jewel, they won't be quiet until they have food," said Blu. "It's morning, so it's time to eat for them."

She faced him.

"You can't solve everything with food."

"No, but we were babies once."

"Once?" she chuckled.

"It's breakfast time anyways. I'll go find some fruit."

"Make sure you bring some nuts. They need their strength for later on."

Blu nodded and took off.

* * *

><p>Okay. Look for a scientist. A scientist.<p>

The American scientist walked into the airport off the plane. He stood near the entrance, searching for a scientist who had his name on a board. He noticed that a line of people held cardboard with writing on it. The signs read "Nick", "Putrida", and "American Scientist". The man holding the sign with the words "American Scientist" was a man with brown, medium-long hair and glasses. This slim man wore a lab coat. The American scientist sighed and walked towards him.

"Hello. Are you Tulio?"

"You must be the American scientist."

"They didn't mention a name."

He shook his head. The American sighed.

"The name's Abe."

"Abe," he repeated happily. "Welcome to Rio."

* * *

><p>Blu returned with a jumbo leaf filled with nuts and berries. He placed the leaf near the nest. Jewel smiled and picked at a berry with her beak. Once she got some mushed berries in her mouth, she hovered over her babies. She carefully put her mouth above one of her children's beak and let gravity slowly transferred the food. Once she decided the chick had plenty, she moved on to the next chick. Blu watched in disgust.<p>

"Seeing that every day is just one of those things you wish you never saw."

Jewel lifted her head after feeding the second one. She faced Blu.

"Well, this is how you and I were fed when we were babies."

Jewel mushed some more berry parts in her mouth and fed her third macaw chick.

"Yeah, but…"

No words came out promptly as his eyes watched Jewel basically feeding the chick her chewed-looking food. He shook his head.

"I know that we have to do it, but it seems that there is a better way."

Jewel faced Blu.

"A mother's way to take care of her kids is the best way. No offense. It's like the mother monkeys we saw after I was healed. Their babies were sucking on the mother's…um…"

"Yeah, I know," said Blu in disgust and took a pause before continuing. "It's just that to me, feeding seems awkward. Probably because I'm a guy. It's my personal space with you."

"You wouldn't care anyway."

Blu narrowed his eyes. She was right. Even if her beak did those disgusting things to feed the kids, he would still kiss it. It was the sensation from Jewel that always got the best of him. Jewel smiled and walked up to him. She wrapped her wings around him and brought him down to a kiss. The kiss was short and passionate. Jewel parted from the kiss and smirked.

"See?"

He smiled.

"You're right."

She let go of the embrace and walked back to her chicks. Blu followed her. Both of them watched as the chicks closed their eyes again to sleep. Jewel formed a smile, Blu looked at the babies and faced Jewel.

"So when do you think they'll have enough strength to walk?"

"I give them five days. Their feathers are blooming quite well."

"Yeah," he breathed. "Our two boys and one girl."

Jewel smiled but she dropped it when she remembered something.

"We forgot names."

Blu slapped his forehead with his wing.

"We've been so busy that we must have forgotten," continued Jewel.

"True. So, names… Names…names. Oh, how about we call at least one by one of our names?"

Jewel half-closed her eyes at him.

"We are not doing that. There is only one Jewel, and there is only one Blu. Our kids are special, so they should have their own names."

Blu rubbed the back of his head with his wing.

"I wish we had a book with pages of baby names."

"Don't worry. It'll come to us."

The sun moved up and up and up before it was starting to go down. Blu was smacking the tetherball, or the tetherrock, around while Jewel was staring out into the jungle from behind the hollow entrance. The rock wrapped around the stick for the tenth time. Blu looked over at Jewel.

"Thought of any?"

"Not yet," Jewel simply replied.

Blu sighed and walked towards the nest. He noticed the one of the boys was awake. The weird thing was that he was very calm, almost relaxed. The amber-eyed baby chick looked curiously at his father and chirped. Blu smiled.

"I got one."

Jewel walked over to Blu. The chick looked at his mother.

"Jalin."

"Jalin? Sounds exotic. What made you come up with it?"

"He seems very calm. Who knows how long he's been awake, but I can affirm you he didn't just wake up."

Jewel thought about it.

"I like it," she answered, happily.

"Well, one down, two to go."

"Well, one to go," said Jewel. "I was thinking about our only girl. At first, nothing came to mind. It was until I realized that she was the only girl, it came to me."

"Well, what is her name going to be then?"

Jewel smiled and faced the light blue macaw.

"Elena."

"What?"

"Elena. It means torch."

"Wait, why?"

"Think about it. She's the only girl we have. Torches are used to light darken areas. Our future was dim, but now, it is bright with her."

"I see what you mean. I like it too. It fits her well. Now, that just leaves one more."

Jewel and Blu faced the other boy. He was just starting to wake up. He stretched out, hitting his sister with his talons. Elena's eyes shot wide open, and she lifted her neck, starting to cry. The boy bird faced her. Blu and Jewel noticed a speckle in his eye and both knew what to name him. They simultaneously snapped at him for making his sister cry.

"Leoncio, don't make your sister cry."


	3. Blu's CheckUp

Blu awoke the next morning to the cries of the babies. He groaned, but he figured it was for the best. Besides, he needed to get up early. Tulio had instructed him to come back a couple of days after his release. He got up and walked over to the babies.

"Good morning, kids."

He gave them a comforting hug. They calmed down a bit, but their chirps rang through the den. Blu looked around and finally noticed Jewel was gone. He grew worried, but he soon relaxed.

Relax, Blu. She's probably out to go get food. Just wait a little bit. She will come soon. It's just you and…the kids. Oh dang.

His children looked at their father and smiled. Blu could've sworn he noticed mischievous specs in their eyes. He tapped his wings together nervously.

"Your mother will be back. Um…I guess your papa's in the house."

The birds stared at him with such curiosity. Blu formed a smile. For a social awkwardly bird, silence wasn't working out for him. Blu thought and decided to just talk to them.

"You guys do know your names, right?"

They just stared at him, making Blu feel uncomfortable.

"Just for a refresher-"

He pointed at the amber-eyed boy.

"-your name is Jalin-"

He moved his wing from Jalin and pointed at the female bird.

"-and your name is Elena-"

He moved his wing and pointed it at the youngest bird, the one who hatched ten seconds after Elena.

"-and your name is Leoncio."

Blu brought his wings to his chest.

"I'm your papa. Can you say papa? Pa-pa?"

He heard no response. He sighed.

"Who am I kidding? They can't talk yet. It's only been three days. I doubt their vocabulary-"

"Papa."

Blu's eyes shot open. He faced the bird who said that. Elena smiled at him.

"What did you say?"

There was a pause for a few seconds.

"Did you say Papa?"

Papa," Elena answered immediately.

Blu slowly grinned. His daughter, the middle macaw, said her first word. She had her mother's looks, but she may have her father's brain.

Cute, isn't it?

Blu gasped and quickly turned around. He saw mirrored Blu leaning against the wooden wall near the entrance.

A baby's first words, continued mirrored Blu. A sign of hope. As Jewel would say, a bright future is ahead.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Blu. "Why can't you leave me alone?"

Mirrored Blu chuckled as he hoisted himself off the wall and walked towards the nest, not getting very near Blu.

I'm a part of you, he answered as he walked. How can I leave?

"So what are you going to put in my head this time?"

Mm… Nothing to be honest. Well, take that back. Nothing very offensive. It's just a warning.

"A warning? Everything that you know, I know. You're my twin."

Mirrored Blu formed a small smile.

Far from it, Blu. Let me tell you something. You only have a portion of your abilities. I have that portion and the rest. It makes me superior, but you have a few things I lack: feelings, senses, a grip to reality…

"So why are you bugging me now? I haven't seen you ever since I sacrificed myself to those revenge-seeking birds."

You trust my senses, right. That human doctor has something planned for you. Both for you and Jewel. Didn't you notice that he mentioned about an American scientist?

"No. I was drugged for most of the procedure."

Oh, right. Well, anyways, heed my warning.

"That's your warning? An American scientist?"

This one is different. I can sense it.

"How can you? You don't have senses."

You know what I mean, snapped mirrored Blu, just watch your tail.

Mirrored Blu faded away. Blu shook his head, remembering what mirrored Blu said. He sighed. He quickly turned his head towards the entrance, hearing someone coming. Jewel had returned with a jumbo leaf filled with nuts and a mango. She placed it down near the nest and landed next to Blu. She kissed him quickly but sweetly.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

"Good morning, Jewel. You brought food?"

"Yeah. I figured that since you need the energy for the check-up today, I should get breakfast."

Blu smiled.

"Okay. Let's dig in."

"Mama."

Jewel's eyes widened. She rushed over to the nest and faced Elena.

"Oh my gosh. Her first word. Blu, can you believe it?"

"That's our girl."

Blu didn't want to disappoint Jewel about telling that Elena already said her first word. Jewel faced her boys.

"Can you say mama?" she asked happily. "Say mama. Ma-ma."

Blu grabbed a chuck of mango and popped it in his mouth as he heard Jalin say mama.

* * *

><p>The two scientists entered the recovery room of the bird sanctuary.<p>

"Well," said Tulio. "This is the healing room."

Abe looked around the squared room decorated with healing birds. Aides were already nurturing these injured birds. They walked past a few tables. Abe's eyes wandered around the room as he saw these brilliant birds either in cages or with one of Tulio's aides. He sighed, remembering how he had a cockatiel when he was younger.

"The lab is behind this door."

He was so lost in thought that he had ignored Tulio's words up to that point. He simply nodded. Tulio opened the door and saw an actual science lab. It had medical cabinets, carts with some closed chemicals on them, a large, metallic table, an old computer that had the newest software, and the tools for fixing and examining a variety of animals.

"Wow," breathed Abe. "I never knew this could exist in a place like Rio."

"Thanks, I think."

Abe faced Tulio.

"So where are these Spix's Macaws?"

"They're in the jungle."

"What? I thought you had them here."

"Don't worry. One's on his way."

A small bell faintly chimed.

"Oh, that must be him. Excuse me."

Tulio walked out of the room. Abe shrugged and walked towards the computer. He took his backpack off and placed it on the table that the computer's monitor was on. He unzipped it, but he didn't take anything out. The door opened. He turned to look who it was. Tulio had returned with a blue macaw on his shoulder. Tulio placed his fingertips on his shoulder. Blu walked on and was lowered down to the table. He got off and turned around. He squawked at Tulio as Tulio rested his hand.

"Well Blu, are you ready for your check-up?"

Blu nodded. Abe scratched his head.

"So this bird understands you?"

Blu finally noticed the other human in the room. Obviously, he was younger than Tulio. He had brown hair and eyes. His ears were shaped a little different and his skin was tanned. He looked lean and probably had the strength of a bear. He wore a button shirt with Hawaiian flowers on it and Levis pants. He was expecting another scientist, taking the advice of his mirrored self, to be in the room. He just saw another tourist.

"A very rare bird," said Tulio. "You might be a few of the first Americans to see it and its value."

"American?" wondered Blu. "He's American?"

He faced Abe and studied him.

"Are you sure he's not a scientist?" asked Blu.

"He sure squawks a lot," said Abe.

He lowered his hand and ran a finger along the back of Blu's head. Blu smiled and closed his eyes. Abe smirked.

"He appears to be domesticated."

Blu opened his eyes and narrowed them.

"Yes. Linda took care of him as a chick."

"I see."

Abe lifted his hand and walked to take a seat on what appeared to be a barstool near the computer that was only a couple of feet away from some open shelves.

"I'll begin after you check him."

Tulio calmly sat down on the chair located in front of the metallic table that was located in the middle of the room. He reached for the nearby lamp on the table and pulled it next to Blu. He flicked it on. The intensity of the light blinded Blu for a few seconds.

"Little too bright," Blu said.

Tulio pulled both of Blu's wings back and forth, like if he was playing with a puppet. He let go of the wing and opened the mouth. He examined it inside and out. He allowed Blu to close his mouth. As soon as Blu closed his mouth, Tulio grabbed his neck and carefully turned it. Satisfied, Tulio reached for the light.

"Wait," said Abe. "Aren't you going to check his rear end? I'm not doctor like yourself, but a normal check-up always end with checking the rear."

"Shut up," loudly whispered Blu.

"Ah, yes. You're right."

Before Blu had a chance to escape, Tulio grabbed him. He turned Blu around and checked his back. He ran his hand down Blu's back, but he soon stopped when he reached the bottom of his back. Blu gulped.

"What is this?" wondered Tulio. "It feels like a scar."

I told Jewel that the scar would last a long time, thought Blu.

His mind played the short events that led into getting the scar.

_The kids were tucked away in the nest. Blu and Jewel smiled as Blu wrapped his wing around Jewel. Jewel did the same thing, but her wing was way lower than Blu's wings. Blu blushed._

_ "Um, Jewel. What are you thinking?"_

_ Jewel faced Blu and blushed._

_ "Well, I was hoping we would have fun tonight," she whispered._

_ "Now?"_

_ "Well, last time, it was interrupted by Pepito. This time, it won't. We have the curtain, the leaf protection, and three chicks would are sound asleep and can't walk."_

_ Blu smirked._

_ "I guess you're right. C'mon."_

_ Blu and Jewel walked to where the curtain made of leafs was and went behind it. There was a smooth rock with leafs on it. Jewel tapped Blu's chest with her wingtips sexually._

_ "You get in first. Let me massage you back."_

_ Blu smiled and got on the bed. He lied on his belly and exhaled smoothly. Jewel began to message his back slowly, arousing Blu. He closed his eyes in bliss, but his eyes quickly widened as he felt pain. He lifted his head up and looked over at Jewel. She spat out some of his feathers._

_ "What are you doing?"_

_ "Pleasing you. I saw it in a book."_

_ "Pleasing me? That hurt my butt, you know."_

_ "Sorry."_

_ There was a pause before Blu spoke._

_ "So, is there a scar?"_

_ Jewel looked at where she bit him. She smiled nervously._

_ "It doesn't look bad. You know, the scar."_

_ "Jewel."_

_ "Relax it will go away."_

_ There was another pause for a few seconds._

_ "You want to continue?" asked Jewel._

_ "Yeah."_

"There appears to be a scar near his behind," Tulio informed Abe.

"That shouldn't be a problem. The experiment should go as plan."

Abe reached from his backpack and reached for a camcorder half the size of a Dell notebook.

"Experiment?" wondered Blu nervously. "What experiment? I don't see any bird-to-human agreement paper here. There was no contract."

Tulio stared in wonder at the big camcorder.

"That's a big camcorder."

"Yes. It's basically a camera with the ability to produce not only normal imaging, but it can also do x-ray and ultrasound imaging. The design is bulky, but it's a working progress."

"I see. So you're just going to take pictures of Blu?"

"Basically."

The tension dropped in Blu.

"Pictures. Good. Better than what I image."

Abe stood in front of Blu. He looked up at Abe with such interest. Abe formed a small smile as he remembered his pet bird. He lifted his camcorder and began taking pictures of Blu at different angles. Some of the pictures were normal, but the others were x-ray images of Blu. Abe figured he had a lot of pictures and put the camera back in the backpack. Tulio faced him.

"Is that all?"

"Not exactly."

Blu frowned. Abe reached for Blu. Blu manage to lift himself off the table, but he was caught in midair by Abe. He pulled Blu closer to him and turned him around. With his right hand, he grabbed one of Blu's tail feathers. Blu realized what he was going to do.

"Oh, not the tail feathers! Anything but the tail! C'mon!"

Abe pulled the feather off of Blu. Blu squawked in pain. Abe released his grip around him, and he flew over to Tulio's shoulder. He looked at the tail Abe carefully had in his hand.

"Hey, jerk! That was my favorite one."

Abe was getting irritated by the squawks. He put the feather in his backpack.

"Boy, that's an annoying bird. Does he ever be quiet?"

"I think he's a little upset that you have his feather. Sorry."

"A little? No. I'm mad! This guy just plucks my feather out without my consent. And what's with the apology? Tulio, who's side are you on?"

"That's fine," said Abe, picking up his backpack. "I'll begin the schematics of the animatron later tonight. Right now, I'm hungry."

"Animatron?" wondered Blu.

"Okay. I'll lead you out."

They walked towards the exit. All the time, Blu was deep in thought. What was an animatron? He never heard of such thing. He needed to research it. The rays of the sun awoke him from his deep thought.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Tulio," said Abe.

"Do you need a taxi or something?"

"No thanks. I'll take the time to tour Rio for a bit."

Abe started to walk away from the bird sanctuary. Blu watched in disgust as he left. It seemed this Abe guy had no consideration for him whatsoever. Tulio faced Blu.

"Hey, I know you may not like him now, but that boy will protect you and Jewel."

Blu looked at Tulio with his eyes half-closed.

"Yeah, after he plucks all my feathers off."

He took off back into the jungle while Tulio went back into the bird sanctuary.


	4. The Experiment

"The whole check-up was weird, Honey. This guy was there with Tulio and took some pictures and plucked my tail."

"That's nice Dear."

Blu had returned to the tree den by evening. He was eating the leftovers his family left for him from dinner. He took a berry and put it in his mouth as Jewel responded. When she did, he nearly chocked.

"Nice? Jewel, the guy's a madman."

"Blu, not now."

Jewel was putting the little ones to sleep. She wasn't succeeding. Leoncio was kicking the crying Elena as Jalin just stared at them.

"Leoncio, stop it!"

Leocio did not listen. Blu sighed and walked up to the nest.

"Leoncio, stop it or else."

Leoncio did not understand the concept of else meant, so he kept on kicking his sister. Blu sighed. He picked up the stunned Leoncio's tail feathers and spanked his behind with his wing. Blu dropped Leoncio's tail and faced the crying Leoncio. Jalin and Elena looked at their father and gulped. Jewel also looked at Blu in shock. Leoncio looked down, crying.

"Leoncio, look at me," demanded Blu.

Not wanting to get another spank, he looked up at Blu.

"I still love you, but if you continue to kick your sister, you will receive another one."

Blu came in for a hug. Leoncio thought it was another spank and scooted back, but Blu managed to hug him. At first, the sniffling Leoncio wanted no hug from his father, but he stopped. He lifted his wings and hugged back his father. Blu's other chicks hopped over to get a hug from their father. Blu welcomed them. After a few moments, he let go off the embrace. He smiled down at them. The three macaws yawned and hopped to their favorite spot on the nest. Jalin and Elena both stumbled since their spots were further than Leoncio's spot. They closed their eyes and went to sleep. Jewel walked over to her mate.

"Why did you spank him?"

"He was being a bad boy. He needs to learn some discipline now. Weren't you ever spanked?"

"Besides from you, no."

"Well, I was. It shaped me into the bird I am today. I thank my mother for that."

"I guess. At least you got the kids to go to sleep."

Blu looked over at his sleeping macaws.

"When I was watching them, I codenamed each one of them."

"Codenamed?"

"Yes. It's not an actual name, but it sometimes describes an individual's personality."

"So what did you 'codenamed' them?"

"Well, you got the Observer, Jalin. Then there's the Crier, Elena. The easiest to spot is Leoncio, the Troublemaker."

Jewel chuckled a bit.

"Leoncio's name is the easiest to remember. I'm waiting for the day when the day comes that he doesn't get scolded."

Blu chuckled.

"Oh Blu. What were you telling me about this guy who examined you?"

"He didn't really examine me. He took pictures of me like a crazed photographer. Then he grabbed me and plucked one of my tail feathers out."

Jewel looked behind him and saw that one was missing.

"At least he didn't take my favorite one."

"Well, he took my favorite one."

Jewel faced her beloved bird.

"So, this guy. Why did he do it? Is he a doctor?"

"No. He's a scientist. An American scientist as a matter of fact."

"An American scientist? Why did he come here?"

"I don't know. He mentioned something called an animatron."

"What is that?"

"I have no idea, but I'm going to find out tonight."

"Tonight? But Blu, it's probably nothing. Remember, you have the tendency to overreact when you're scared or nervous."

"I'm just…curious. Besides, Tulio said it is designed for us. I need to check it out."

"But it's late. You don't know where the American scientist sleeps."

"I have a hunch."

Jewel looked into his eyes with curiosity, eagerly to await his answer.

"You know that fancy hotel?"

"There's a lot."

"I mean the one that looks like a palace."

"The Copacabana Palace Hotel?"

"Yeah."

"Blu, just because that place has the word 'palace' in it, doesn't mean it's a real palace. Besides, why do you think he's in there?"

"I have a hunch."

Jewel half-closed her eyes.

"A hunch?" she sighed and widened her eyes back to normal. "Blu, this is the first time you admit on having a hunch. I think-"

"Trust me, Jewel. I can't explain it. I just…know."

Jewel sighed.

"Fine. So what are you going to do if he's there? He could be in any room, and then a window blocks you from him if you find the room."

"Don't worry Jewel."

"I always do when you do this. Remember, curiosity killed the cat."

"Good thing I'm not cat."

Jewel sighed. Blu walked up to her and grabbed her wings.

"Amor, if this thing is for us, we must know what it is. My job is to protect the family. That's what I'm doing."

Jewel placed a wing on his cheek.

"Okay," she said smoothly. "Just come back."

"I always do," he smirked.

He moved a little away from her and turned around. He flew out of the tree den. Jewel smiled as she watched him go. She faced her sleeping chicks and walked behind them. She bent her legs and closed her eyes to go to sleep.

* * *

><p>Abe sat on the chair, staring into his laptop. The room was securely locked and lightly lit. Next to the laptop was a light latex figure with blue feathers. Its eyes were glossy white orbs with video camera lens to serve as pupils. The real blue feather lied next to the laptop. The other feathers were artificial, but they looked real. Abe looked at it.<p>

I honestly thought I would get as far as the schematics. Probably this project is easy. It's either that or I'm just bored. I never imaged I would tour Rio that quick. Probably if I was normal, I could.

Abe looked at the animatronic again and realized something. He went back to the program on the laptop and typed it in a series of codes. He then executed the program. Using the 'search' function on the laptop, he opened the application he created. There was a new button on the screen that said 'squawk'. He pressed it and waited for a few moments. Through satellite, the robot received the command through its internal antenna. The robot opened its fake beak and meowed. Abe sighed.

Great. I forgot how the macaw squawked.

He heard something outside his window. He opened the window and saw a blue macaw. It was the same one from earlier that morning. He smiled nervously. The macaw narrowed his eyes.

"You're still mad about the check-up."

Blu nodded.

"Look, it's all in the name of science. I'm trying to save you. Don't know why I agreed, but I'm a good guy."

Blu's eyes returned to normal and he hopped off the window onto the table. Abe half-closed his eyes.

"Yeah. Invite yourself in."

Blu looked around. His eyes grew when he saw the blue bird. He walked up to it and examined it without touching it.

"Marvelous, isn't it? It's supposed to be you."

"That's how I look. Yeah, right. I'm not that fat."

Blu looked down and grabbed his belly. It was squishy.

"Okay. Probably I am."

Abe observed the bird's reaction towards the robot and walked back to the laptop. He clicked on the commands the screen and executed the sequence. The robot macaw flapped his wings up and down. It lowered the wings to its sides and tilted its head towards Blu. It then meowed. Blu looked at the machine briefly and then faced Abe.

"A meow? Really?"

"Hey. Don't look at me like that. It's a working process."

Abe then thought of an idea. We walked to his luggage back and pulled out a microphone that connected to the computer. He plugged in the microphone and tilted it down towards Blu. He then opened another application on the computer that recorded sound. He faced Blu.

"Whatever you say in there, I can make that bird say it."

"He doesn't have a name?" wondered Blu.

"Alright, Macaw. Say… Squawk something."

Blu got irritated when he was called macaw. He signed and looked around. He noticed a pencil and a large sheet of paper on table. Blu flew over and landed next to the paper. He picked it up with one of his talons as it rested against his shoulder. Abe hurried walked over.

"Stupid bird! That's the schematic."

He looked as Blu wrote three letters. He was impressed.

"Blu? Well, I'm surprised that you can write, but you misspelled blue."

Blu rolled his eyes. He wrote something underneath it. He kept it covered from Abe. When he was done, he moved. Abe read it aloud.

"That's my name, idiot. Idiot! You try to do the things I do. Besides, my name is Abe."

Blu nodded and wrote something. Abe read it.

"Why do you need to speak into the microphone? Well, it's for that th…bird over there. If you speak into the microphone, it will talk."

Blu flew over to the microphone. Abe sped-walk to the laptop and faced Blu.

"On my mark, Blu. Three…two…one…"

Abe pressed the record button on the screen. Blu squawked something into the microphone. Abe was surprised by the frequencies of his voice. It was like his own speech. Even though the differences were microscopic, Abe knew that they were there. He zoomed in to confirm. There were different frequencies. When he squawked, a human ear could not detect it, but thanks to computers, it was staring Abe in the face.

"Interesting. Your own language."

Blu flew back to the paper and pencil to write something. Abe walked over and saw what he wrote.

"I know every kind of animal have their own language. Even different humans of different regions have their own language."

Blu wrote something down. He faced Abe with interest.

"Then why ask? Um… Just to make sure, I guess."

Blu shrugged. Abe rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger and thought of something. He dropped his hand and smiled at Blu.

"Want to help me? I just need you to speak into the microphone again. That why I can manipulate it so the bird can speak into your own squawks…er…language."

Blu nodded. He didn't like the scientist very much, but he was curious on what he was making. Blu flew over to the microphone and cleared his throat. Abe sat on the chair in front of the laptop. He faced Blu.

"Three…two…one…"


	5. The Dream

_"Blu. Blu, where are you? Blu!"_

_ Jewel was walking around, alone. The only light she had was the white circular space that emitted below her. She only saw black space before her. Worried, she looked around._

_ "BLU! Please, hear me!"_

_ She continued to walk in the empty space. She walked in panic as she felt isolated. Her chicks and Blu were nowhere to be found. A tear escaped her right eye. She gave up and sat down. She buried her face in her wings and cried._

_ She cried for about a minute. Then something approached her out of the darkness. Through her wingtips, she saw that someone was in front of her. She dropped her wings slowly and looked up. She sniffled as she stared at the blue bird in front of her._

_ "Are you Blu?"_

_ The bird looked down at her with its glossy white eyes._

_ "I can help you."_

_ "Why would you help me? We're strangers."_

_ "Stand up, Jewel."_

_ "How do you know my name?"_

_ "Blu told me."_

_ Jewel jumped up._

_ "You know Blu?"_

_ "Yes. He needs you right now. Come. Follow me."_

_ He turned around and started walking away from Jewel. He had his own circular light spot below him. It followed him as he walked. Jewel looked at the bird, determining whether to follow him or stay where she was. Not wanting to be alone again, she followed him. Jewel walked up to his right._

_ "Excuse me, but I didn't get your name."_

_ "I don't have one," the bird simply said as he continued to look straight ahead._

_ Jewel looked at him._

_ "Why are your eyes glossy?"_

_ "I was made that way."_

_ The way he said it stunned Jewel. It wasn't that he was born that way. He was made._

_ "Made? I think you mean born."_

_ There was a long silence before the bird spoke. It didn't face Jewel._

_ "I was made by my god. A human brought me into this world for a purpose."_

_ "A human? But a human can't be a god."_

_ "A god can be anything from one who takes life to one who gives life. He is my god, my creator, the one who gave me life."_

_ Jewel guessed he was right. About anything could be considered a god. Different cultures, from past to present, had their own god, or gods. To this bird, his god was a mere human. However, she didn't quite understand the concept of a human bringing a bird to this life. How could a human conceive a bird? As Blu would say, it was scientifically impossible. Speaking of Blu, where was he? The bird was supposedly leading her to Blu, but they had been walking for quite a while now._

_ "Do you know where Blu is? If this is a cruel joke…"_

_ "No joke. I know where he is. In fact, we are close."_

_ A spotlight flicked on a few feet in front of them. A blue bird was sitting down with its back turned at them. He faced them. Jewel's eyes widened happily._

_ "Blu!"_

_ Blu slowly stood up and faced Jewel._

_ "Jewel, get away from him!"_

_ Jewel faced the bird. Those glossy eyes changed. It was like if she was staring into Blu. She looked over the bird again and noticed that it was Blu. She faced the further Blu._

_ "Wh… How?"_

_ "Stupid Blu," said the Blu closer to Jewel. "I am the real Blu."_

_ "No, you're just a machine."_

_ Jewel looked at the Blu closer to her. How could he be a machine? He looked so lively._

_ "I am the real Blu."_

_ It pointed its wing at the Blu further away. Half of its wing bent at a right angle. There was a hole showing when the wing opened. Jewel noticed that the wing was made of some type of metal that shined in light. Blu, the robotic Blu, grinned evilly at Blu._

_ "I am the father of my chicks. I am Jewel's mate. I am Blu. You are terminated."_

_ A shot briefly deafened Jewel. She had her eyes closed as she screamed._

_ "NO!"_

Jewel's eyes sprang wide open. She looked from side to side. She noticed it was still dark outside. Her chicks were still asleep. She noticed Blu was walking towards the nest, as if he had just gotten back home. He noticed Jewel's freaked-out face and rushed towards her.

"Jewel. Honey? Are you alright?"

Jewel stood up and unexpectedly grabbed Blu's wing. She slowly crooked the wing in the middle. Blu was slowly dropping to his knees due to the pain.

"Stop it. Please, stop. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Jewel released his wing. He got to his feet and rubbed his wing. He looked down at his wing, not seeing Jewel. A wingtip poked his eye.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he asked without his voice rising.

He rubbed his closed eye now. As he rubbed it, Jewel moved in and hugged him. He stopped rubbing and looked down. He wrapped his wings around her. He felt two teardrops on his chest.

"Oh, Blu."

"Jewel, what's up?"

Jewel slowly parted from the embrace and started to explain without directly facing Blu.

"It was a nightmare. I was all alone. No kids or you. Then this blue bird came and said he knew where you were. I followed him. He kept on saying weird stuff along the way. I didn't know what he meant. When we found you, you shouted to get away from him. He then looked like you. Then he said he was the real Blu, but he wasn't. He was this weird thing that humans make all the time with the shiny metal."

"Honey, they make a lot of things with metal."

"But this was different. It looked like us. It then…shot…"

She didn't finish. The tears came as she buried herself in Blu's chest again. Blu put a wing gently around her head and one around her waist.

"It will be alright."

"No, it won't."

Blu was surprised by his response. He looked down at the teary Jewel and remembered what he had told her about the check-up. Probably that was what triggered the dream. He sighed.

"Jewel, it was just a dream. Nothing of it was true. How can a thing like that exist?"

"I guess," she said as she parted from him.

His wings were still wrapped around her. She looked up with her watery eyes.

"So, why are you so late?"

"Well, I did find the scientist. After that, he sort of…welcomed me in."

"Blu! You said you were only going to see."

"I did, and boy, did I see. I mean, this guy, the scientist, has a bird that is controlled by a computer. A robot, but it's not that very good. The design is great and it moves its wings fast, but it meowed in the beginning."

"A rowhat."

"A robot. He calls it an animatron. I don't know why. I think there's no difference between them, but he said there is."

"He said? You were talking to him?"

"By paper. I wrote notes or short paragraphs."

"So, he has this ani…robot thing. What does it look like?"

"Well, it's a blue bird with glossy eyes."

Jewel gasped. The dream… Was it a warning about the future? Jewel shook her head.

"Listen to me. You can't help him. This thing he made might hurt you."

"Jewel, just because you had that dream, doesn't mean it'll come true. What are the chances?"

"The chances are still there. Besides, you saw it."

"Yeah, but it is still very unlikely."

"Yes, but-"

"Jewel, stop acting paranoid."

Jewel huffed and slapped Blu across the face.

"Ow!"

"I am not acting crazy!" Jewel shouted in a hushed voice. "I can't believe you."

Blu rubbed his cheek.

"I'm just saying that this device will help us."

"Help us? Who said?"

"The scientist."

"And you take his word?"

"He's really not a bad guy after all. Crazy and sarcastic, but still a nice guy."

"Blu, just don't get involved."

"I did. I helped him."

Jewel gasped.

"Well, by me helping him, I'm able to see what he's doing," he explained.

"But Blu-"

Without anything thinking, Blu spoke the next words.

"Honey, this robot is more real than you being psychic."

Jewel narrowed her eyes and punched her mate. Blu fell back and hit the floor with his eyes closed. Jewel huffed victoriously.

"Sorry Blu, but hopefully I knocked some common sense into you."

She rubbed his head and pecked it gently for a goodnight kiss. She left him there and returned to her spot. She finally closed her eyes and went to sleep. A tear escaped her closed eye.


	6. Frozen Peas

Blu arose from his sleep. He had heard his chicks crying. He lazily opened his eyes and stood up. He noticed he was further from the nest than usual. He saw Jewel near the nest, feeding the chicks. He watched as Jewel basically spat food in Jalin's mouth.

"First thing I see is something unpleasant," he commented sarcastically. "This is going to be a fantastic day."

Jewel lifted her head up and faced Blu. She walked up to him.

"Good morning, Honey. How did you sleep? You were sleeping like a baby."

Blu half-closed his eyes. He sighed.

"Mi Amor, I'm sorry about what happened. I wasn't thinking straight. I was tired. I deserved it."

Jewel's face lightened.

"I'm sorry too, my Blu bird. Here, let me see it."

Blu got closer to her. She touched his face with her wing and slowly moved it to the right. She flinched when she saw the damage. She smiled nervously.

"Well, you still look great, but I think you need to stay here for a day. Probably two."

"How bad is it?"

"Well, it's a black eye. A big one."

"Well, I can always say I was fighting a bird, protecting you."

"Yeah, that won't work. The black eye has my wing on it."

"Like fingerprints that humans can make with ink and paint."

"You can say that. It would work if there were more of us, but yeah, don't go out."

Blu sighed.

"Great."

"Don't worry. I'll make it up to you."

"But it was my fault."

"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting to give you a bad black eye. I guess I don't know my own strength. I'll get some ice from Linda and hurry back over here."

"No, get frozen peas. They are easier to carry."

"Okay. Just stay with the kids. There is some leftover mango and berries."

Jewel flew out of the nest and off to Linda. Blu looked at the kids and walked up to them. He smiled at them.

"How long has it been since you were born? A week? Well, your feathers look very nice."

"Papa," said Elena.

Blu smiled and faced Elena.

"Yes, Elena?"

"Where's Mama?"

"Well, she went to go get Papa some frozen peas."

All three baby macaws laughed.

"Papa said pees," chuckled Jalin.

"Not pees. Peas."

They laughed again. Blu sighed.

"A pea is a green vegetable you can eat. Peas and pee are very different. Peas make you grow stronger."

Jalin and Elena continued to laugh standing up as Leoncio fell on his back with laughter. Blu smacked his face. Yeah, he was a great dad. He dropped his wing.

"Great, Blu," he mumbled. "You had to open your mouth again. What's next? Sex?"

"Papa, what's sex?" asked Leoncio.

Blu's faced dropped.

"Where…did you…hear that?" Blu stuttered.

"You now. You made the quiet talk when you and Mama tell something."

Blu groaned. Who knew his son had a sharp ear?

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Ask Mama," suggested Elena.

Blu waved his wings frantically in front of them.

"No! Listen, if you tell Mama, then Papa will be broken by tomorrow."

"Then you tell," said Jalin.

"Um, I don't want-"

"We will ask Mama," said Elena.

Brats, thought Blu.

"Okay. Um, sex is…a special secret. Yeah, a secret. When I make the quiet talk with Mama, it is called sex. It's a secret where you can't tell anyone. My sex to you is that you don't tell Mama about this. Okay?"

Jalin and Elena nodded. Blu smiled.

"Good."

Blu walked over to get some mango. As he grabbed some with his talon, someone tapped his foot. He looked down and saw a stumbling Jalin. His weak knees barely kept him up. He looked up at Blu and smiled. Blu smiled back.

"You can walk?"

"Yeah."

Proudly, Jalin started to walk back to the nest. He basically stumbled more than walked. He fell down before he got halfway to the nest. Blu smiled and hovered over his son. He picked him up with his talons as he was still airborne and placed Jalin in the nest. Blu landed in front of him. He rubbed his head.

Too bad Jewel has not witnessed a miracle first.

* * *

><p>Jewel flew down to the bookstore Linda had opened. There was a small door on the roof designed for her and Blu. She flew through the small hole that was disguised as a smaller roof that stood two feet higher than the roof and was supported by plastered wood beams. She flew down into the bookstore and hovered for a bit, trying to find Linda. She spotted her at the desk near the entrance of the bookstore. She smiled and squawked. Linda looked up to see Jewel flying towards her. Jewel landed on the desk.<p>

"Jewel. It's so good to see you. I haven't seen you since… Oh, my gosh. You had the chicks, didn't you?"

Jewel nodded.

"This is so exciting. So, is Blu with them?"

Jewel nodded again.

"Playing stay-home dad, huh? So what brings you here?"

Jewel, knowing that she couldn't write the alphabet that well yet, grabbed a pencil that was lying next to the keyboard on the desk. A stack of sticky notes were next to the pencil. She stood in front of the sticky notes and drew a crooked circle. She was very proud by her design, but Linda wasn't.

"Is that a circle?"

Jewel faced Linda and half-closed her eyes. She turned back around and wrote the letter 'P' in the middle of the circle.

"P," wondered Linda. "P, p, p… Ohhhhh, pea."

Jewel nodded.

"Why do you want peas?"

Jewel peeled off the sticky note with her beak and drew a stick figure of a bird on a fresh sticky note. She wrote 'Blu' underneath it.

"For Blu? Why would he want peas? The only peas I got are in the mini freezer."

Jewel squawked happily. Linda grew interested.

"Why would Blu want frozen peas?"

Jewel pointed at the pencil tip. Linda gasped.

"Something poked him?"

Jewel shook her head. She picked up the pencil and colored the sticky note with the picture of stick-figure Blu. She made sure every corner was shaded. After she was done, she pointed at it. Linda began to think.

"I don't know what I'm looking at Jewel. All I see is grey."

Jewel nodded.

"Grey? What is grey?"

Jewel dropped the pencil and pointed to her eye.

"What am I supposed to see?" asked Linda.

Jewel shook her head as she still pointed at her eye.

"See? Green? Eye?"

Jewel squawked as Linda said eye. Linda's eyes widened.

"Grey eye? That doesn't make sense, unless it's a black eye."

Jewel flapped her feathers up and down happily and nodded her head. After a few seconds, she dropped her wings to her sides.

"Black eye? Oh, dear. Blu has a black eye. I'll get the frozen peas. I'll be back."

Linda stood up and walked away from the desk. Jewel watched her as she disappeared into another room.

That was hard. I'll get Blu to teach me how to write better.

A bell rang. Jewel looked back and saw a man with brown hair and brown eyes. He looked like another tourist with a white shirt and blue shorts. Linda opened the door of the room she was in and walked back to her desk, carrying a very small bag of frozen peas. She placed it on the desk, in front of Jewel, and faced the tanned man.

"Hello. May I help you?"

"Yes. Your boyfriend told me you ran a bookshop? I was interested in checking out a book."

"My boyfriend? I have a husband."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Working with Tulio at the sanctuary is my main focus now."

"Oh, you work with my husband?"

"Yes. I'm the scientist from the United States to work on a special project for the Spix's Macaws. My name is Abe."

He reached out to shake hands. Linda met him halfway.

"Oh, nice to meet you. My name's Linda."

Abe looked around after he let go of the handshake. He noticed a blue bird on the desk, but this one was female.

"This must be the other Spix's Macaw. I've already met Blu."

"Oh. This is Jewel."

Jewel gulped. It was this man that was building the strange device. He was the creator of life, as mentioned from her dream.

"A radiant bird. Now, I was looking for a mystery book. Something that would knock my socks off. I love a good mystery."

Linda thought and smiled.

"I think I have just the book."

Linda left the desk to go get it. Jewel watched Linda leave. She then faced Abe. Abe smiled.

"Your mate is really helpful and smart, despite his rudeness. Hey, can you write?"

Jewel shook her head, not wanting to let him know she did a little.

"That's too bad. I thought you were as smart as him too."

Jewel narrowed her eyes.

Linda came back with a hardcover book. She handed it to Abe.

"You'll like this one. The ending is really good."

"How much do I owe you?"

"Well, the book is rented for a week for five dollars. If damaged, it's an additional twenty dollars."

"Alright," said Abe, getting out his wallet.

He took out a five-dollar bill and gave it to Linda.

"Thank you."

Abe nodded happily and walked out of the bookshop. Linda entered the book into the computer as it being checked out by Abe, a temporary worker of Tulio. She would get the information from Tulio later tonight. Linda smiled at Jewel.

"Well, he seemed nice."

Despite the fact categorizing me as being dumb, thought Jewel.

She nodded back at Linda and took off with the bag of frozen peas in her talons. Linda smiled and continued with her work on the computer.

* * *

><p>Blu sat next to the kids, waiting for Jewel. He huffed as he waited longer. His eye was killing him. The kids made it worse.<p>

"Papa," said Elena, "your eye black."

"Yeah," said Jalin. "Does it hurt?"

"Yes," Blu replied. "Hopefully Mama gets back soon."

As a random stroke of luck, Jewel flew in with a bag of semi-frozen peas. Blu got to his feet and walked over to her.

"Jewel, there you are. You had me worried."

Jewel handed him the bag. He immediately held it on his eye.

"I'm sorry. It's just that the scientist came into the bookshop."

"You mean Abe?"

Jewel nodded.

"He's very open-minded. I mean, he's not afraid to insult you."

"Yeah," said Blu. "That's true."

"Mama, Mama!" called Leoncio. "Come here."

Jewel happily walked over to Leoncio.

"What do you want to tell Mama?"

Leoncio motioned her to lower her head by using his wings. She did. Leoncio whispered it to her. Jewel's smile widened. She lifted her head and looked down.

"Thank you, Mejo."

Curious, Jalin faced Leoncio.

"What did you tell Mama?"

"I'm not telling you," laughed Leoncio.

"Well," said Jewel. "Leoncio said-"

"No Mama. You can't tell them."

"Why not? They can hear it."

"But it's our sex."

A pool of unpleasant emotions flooded in Jewel's head. Her eyes widened.

"What? Leoncio, where did you hear that word from?"

"Well, Papa told us about a sex."

Jewel quickly faced Blu and narrowed her eyes. He had stiffened when Leoncio had said the word. He thought about leaving, but the troublemaker had already told who fault it was. Jewel shook her wings with such rage.

"BLU!"

Blu smiled nervously.

"Listen. It's not wh…what you think. It's all a misunderstanding."

It was too late. Leoncio had marked his grave. Jewel snatched the bag of peas from him and smacked him with it. The baby chicks watched as their papa was getting beaten up by a bag of peas.

"Mama's breaking Papa," said Elena.

"Papa was wrong," said Jalin. "He's being broken now."


	7. Disappointments

Tulio stood in marveled at what Abe brought him in the laboratory room, where Abe first met Blu. He never expected the machine to be done so quickly. The EPA was right. This guy was out of this world, as the expression went. Tulio stopped staring at the metallic bird covered in artificial blue feathers and faced Abe.

"This is unreal. It looks like if I'm staring at an actual Spix's Macaw."

"Yes. I made the outside with latex and feathers to make it more realistic. The eyes were a bit glossy, so I painted a blue iris around the camera lens."

"Amazing," said Tulio, looking at the bird animatron again. "So can it move?"

"Yes."

Abe pulled out the laptop from his backpack he had brought to carry the animatron in and booted it up. He logged into his account. He went to the 'Start' menu and saw the program used to control the animatronic bird. Using this friendly program, he listed a chain of commands by clicking on them. He then clicked on the virtual 'Execute' button at the bottom of the program and waited just moments for the animatron to respond. It flapped its wings, then turned its head so the right eye was facing Tulio more than the left eye, and squawked. It returned to its original position after a few seconds.

"It works like this. Inside, I integrated a microchip that receives a signal from this device via wireless. Of course, the computer must be able to transmit the signal, so I made something similar to a wireless network card. You know. the one that laptops and other wireless devices have. The program is so easy that a first-grader can use it. The program has a series of clickable buttons that contain the commands for the animatron. They range from squawking to walking, except flying because it is not aerodynamic and if it was to be made aerodynamic, it would have propellers that would rob it from being so realistic. When you click on walking, it will ask for a time frame. Enter the time frame up to five minutes then use the arrow keys to direct it. Now, it won't walk right away, but it will walk after you hold down on the arrows of the keyboard. Basically, it works like a remote-control car."

Tulio's face dropped.

"So it can't operate by itself?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like a robot?"

"No. It's not a robot anyway. It's an animatron."

"What's the difference?"

"Have you seen the movies of "Jurassic Park"?"

"Yes."

"Those dinosaurs were animatronic designs. They were machines that worked like this."

"Yes, but that was in the nineties. We live in the beginnings of 21st Century."

"But there was a reason why I did it this way. A machine works what the designer puts in it. It cannot accommodate to any changes without the designer upgrading it. Humans are not robots. They can think as soon as change hits them."

"But I can't be here every day of every hour controlling this thing."

"That's why I suggest you hire six people. Each works for six hours to ten hours a day on a normal work week, depending if one's on vacation or taking the day off. You pay them minimum wage or take to the EPA so they can pay it. Our government likes to waste money, so might as well waste it on something for a good cause."

"But, this is not what I wanted. I've seen robots that work on their own."

"Don't tell me you're talking about the Japanese."

"Yes," replied Tulio with his eyes lightening up. "In 2000, Honda built this human-looking robot called ASIMO. They still do, I think. The Japanese has a big robotic industry. I don't know why America is not exploring into this."

"We are. There are things the military doesn't want you to know. You heard of Area 51? What about Areas 1 through 50? Even beyond Area 51. There is always a technology war, and I believe our biggest threat is Japan. We may not build actual robots like Japan does, but we still have machines that act like robots."

"So are you saying that you have the technology, but you don't want to build it?"

"I'm not saying it. I'm implying it. Even though a human is not perfect, a robot should never replace a human."

"I see. Well, you are wrong. If you won't design the bird into making it more life-like, I will call someone else."

"Someone else? It better not be the Japanese. I make a way better robot than them anyways."

"Then prove it."

"I don't need to."

"Then you leave me no choice. I will find someone else to finish the work you started."

"So, you're firing me? You can't do that! I'm under-contract with EPA. Only they can fire me."

Tulio walked to his computer desk and opened the metallic cabinet underneath it. He pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to Abe. It was the contract he signed and mailed back to EPA.

"Read the fine print."

Abe tried to find the fine print. He half-closed his eyes when he found it.

"At any given time, the employer, Dr. Tulio Monterio has full authorization to dismiss the employee under any circumstance. Seven percent of all money contracted to the employee will be received by the employee as the rest is kept by the employer to find another employee to replace the previous one. All devices that the employee made under the employer are property of the employer. Damn fine print."

Abe looked at Tulio and handed the paper back to him.

"Fine! Call the Japanese. They have an outstanding robotic industry, for humans. I'll email you the program and leave the animatronic bird here."

* * *

><p>Jewel watched as her kids finally went to sleep. For them, everything was right in this world. She viewed it different. Her world was shattering. She looked out of the hollow and saw her mate sitting on the branch. Blu had covered his black eye with a leaf and kept it there by tying a vine around his head. He was looking up at the moon. She sighed. Slowly, she walked towards him. He didn't flinch as he saw her getting closer to him. She appeared to be calm. She sat down next to him and looked up at the moon.<p>

"Amazing, huh?" began Jewel, breaking the silence. "The moon, the stars… It's all so beautiful and mysterious."

"Yeah," Blu replied with no emotion.

Jewel faced Blu and placed her right wing on top of her left wing. He turned away from her face.

"Blu, can you look at me, please?"

"Why? Because if I don't, you'll hit me again."

"No. Just, please Blu."

He slowly turned to face her. Her eyes were filled with sorrow.

"Why did you do that?" asked Blu. "I'm not your punching bag or your hoe. I'm your mate, Jewel."

She looked down.

"I know."

"Then why did you hit me like that?"

She sighed.

"Blu, I've been keeping my childhood from you."

"What does this have to do with your childhood?"

She looked up at him.

"Everything."

His eyes widened with interest.

"I still don't…"

"I've only told you of my teenage years with my parents."

"Yeah. You lived happily with them."

"I was. With my mother and my step-father."

Blu stiffened.

"Step-father? You mean your father, right?"

"No. He was my step-father. I treated him like my real father, but he was my step-father."

"Then what happened to your actual father."

"He became a meal."

Blu was waiting for the tears, but they never escaped Jewel's eyes.

"Why aren't you sad about this? I mean, he was family."

"He was part of the family, but he never was family."

Blu had a confused face. Jewel started to explain.

"I lived with him and my mother for two years. The worst two years of my life. On most days, I would see him slap my mother when he got angry with her. It was over stupid things, like getting bad fruit or going somewhere without him. He never slapped me, at least for that short period after my birth. I finally had enough. A week after I learned to walk, I saw my father hitting my mother again. I had enough. I ran up to him and punched him as hard as I could. I was weak, so it was like a tap for him, but he got so mad. That was the first and last time he slapped me. It was so hard that it knocked me out. This didn't stop him abusing my mother. My mother always told me that it would be okay. I saw the marks and bruises on her face and doubted it. I always told myself that I would never act like my father."

A tear escaped her eye. She looked up at the moon.

"I was wrong," she said in a trembling voice. "I've become…my…father."

She finally exploded into tears. She looked up at her mate. Blu wrapped his right wing around her and brought her closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulders.

"I'm a bad mother. A mother who teaches her kids violence is okay."

"No, Jewel. You're a great mom, and you are not your father. You are you."

Jewel sniffled.

"But I still have a little of my father in me."

"And you have a little of your mother."

Jewel lifted her head and faced Jewel. She smiled as a couple of tears trickled down her checks.

"Yeah, but my father is who I take after more. It's just… I don't know how to explain it."

"I understand. It's like me with the whole awkwardness and saying things that I shouldn't say."

"I know," she faintly smiled. "You've been good to me, Blu."

"And you to me, despite-"

"Don't go there," she weakly snapped.

Blu chuckled.

"Inside, I believe that you're more like your mother than you think. I've seen how you are with our chicks. Like a true mother. Don't think too much of your father. Rafael once implied to me that the brain will trick while the heart knows what is right. Jewel, you have your mother's heart."

Jewel smiled at her supportive mate and went in for a kiss. Beak-to-beak, their tongues would playfully slap each other as their eyes were close, savoring the kiss. The kiss lasted for a few seconds. Jewel slowly parted from the kiss and rested her head on Blu's chest. He looked down happily.

"I love you, Jewel."

"I love you too, Blu."

They cuddled together as they looked up at the moon. It shined as the sun, relaxing Jewel. She would always have the memories of her father, but she would try her best to not repeat the past. After all, the past was the past.


	8. A Short Visit

Blu, still with the eye patch, woke up to see his right wing wrapped around Jewel. He lifted his head up and looked around. The chicks were still resting. Well, two were. One was perched near the entrance of the den. Jalin stared at the rising sun. Blu slowly stood up and walked over to his son.

"Jalin, why are you up so early?" Blu asked as he made his way over there.

"Hi Papa," he replied dully.

Blu sat down next to his son.

"I couldn't sleep good. I thinking about you and Mama."

He faced Blu with his puppy eyes.

"Everything okay?"

"Why do you ask, my son?"

"Mama broke your head with peas."

"Mama didn't break it. It just hurts."

"It hurt now?"

Blu undid the vine from his head and through the falling leaf that was covering his eye and the vine off the tree. He blinked a few times.

"See? My eye is fine."

"That good."

Jalin looked at the rising sun.

"Why Mama hit you so much?"

"Well, it's the same reason why I spank you kids...well, Leoncio is the only one so far. It is because Papa does wrong things too."

"But you know everything."

Blu slowly shook his head and smiled.

"No one knows everything. Everyone have their own talents and knows from their experiences. For example, I know how to read and write very well while Mama knows the jungle way better than me. You know a few more things than Elena and Leoncio."

"I guess. We know one thing: Mama stronger than you."

"That's only because Papa lets her."

"Lets me?"

Blu and Jalin looked behind them to see the chuckling Jewel approaching them. She sat down next to Blu.

"Jalin, what are you doing up?" she asked in a motherly tone. "You should be resting like your brother and sister."

"He couldn't sleep well," explained Blu. "Jalin is scared about us."

"Scared? About what?"

"Mama, you hit Papa like you hate Papa. Do you?"

"Of course not, Mejo. I love your Papa. He's my Blu bird."

"Why you hit him?"

"Well, it's like when Leoncio gets spanked by Papa: to teach him that's wrong."

"But it make no sense. You kiss, hug, and say I love you. Why do you hit him?"

"Well, you can love someone and still be mad at them."

Jalin scratched his head, still confused.

"It's like you with your brother and sister. Do they get on your nerves?"

"Only Leoncio. He hit me one time and called me stupid."

Jewel stiffened, wondering where he got his language from. She faced Blu, who shook in his head in astonishment. She looked down at Jalin.

"But do you love them?"

"That gross, Mama," said Jalin. "I have to kiss them if I loved them."

"Like them as friends?" Blu quickly asked.

"Only Elena. Leoncio always mean to us, laughing at us."

Jewel slightly smiled.

"Well, I think he's going through a phase. Don't worry. He won't be like that when he's older. Papa will whip him into a nice bird."

Jalin faced Blu. He nodded. He looked up at Jewel.

"With his wing or vine?"

Blu smacked his face with his wing. Jewel narrowed her eyes at Blu. He saw Jewel's face in the corner of his eye. She had the face of we-will-talk-tonight. He dropped his wing to his side and faced Jalin.

"No. All you need is to learn things. Books are what Leoncio and your sister and you need."

"Books? Is that a new vine?"

"Forget the vine," Blu said in panic and then explained calmly. "Books teach you many things. That's why Papa knows a lot of things."

"That's right," said Jewel. "Just a few weeks ago, he figured out to stop this spinning fan in a building so we could fly out of it."

"Oh," replied Jalin, not really sure what a fan or a building was. "So these books help?"

"Yes," said Blu, "most of the times."

"Okay. When we see them?"

"Well," said Jewel. "I can get one after breakfast."

"Wait. I can get the book."

Jewel slightly smirked.

"I'm pretty sure our kids don't want to hear a detailed version on how the Earth is?"

"But it has pictures."

Jewel smiled.

"Later on, Honey."

"Papa! Mama!"

The trio looked back to see the stumbling acts of Elena and Leoncio. Blu was going to help them, but Jewel stopped him. He faced her. She nodded her head down towards Jalin. Blu looked where his son was. Jalin, a far better walker than his siblings, walked over to help his siblings. He extended a wing out to each one. Elena immediately grabbed it as Leoncio reluctantly grabbed it. The trio started to walk towards their parents. Jewel and Blu just smiled. As their chicks got closer to them, Jewel extended both her wings out to grab Elena. She placed her daughter in front of her. Blu grabbed his two boys and guided them to a spot in front of him. Jalin and Leoncio rested their backs on Blu's belly and looked forward. The family looked out at the jungle, hearing their distant neighbor's morning chirps.

* * *

><p>"Dr. Tulio Monterio, we are honored to be part of this project."<p>

The man with an accent heard what Tulio said over his cell phone before speaking again.

"Yes. We are Peru now. We will be there by tomorrow evening."

Dr. Tulio said something over the phone.

"Alright. Bye."

He looked over at his partner who was looking at him, waiting what he would say.

"Hayato wa, wareware wa yutaka ni narudarou shite iru."

"Kono otoko wa sō mōmokudesu. Wareware wa, jū oku o okonaimasu."

* * *

><p>Blu smiled as he had a leftover chuck of blackberry in his wing. He was sharing with his chicks. Leoncio and Jalin gobbled up their piece. Elena was sitting next to her dad. She looked up at her papa as he stared out into the jungle.<p>

"Papa?"

Blu looked down at his daughter.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he calmly said.

"Are you waiting for Mama?"

"Yeah, but she will be back soon."

Blu took a bite of his chuck of blackberry. He stared at the peaceful jungle until a head popped up in front of him. He gagged on the blackberry in his throat, pounding his chest so it could go out. A hand extended out to assist him as support on his back. After hitting his chest with his curled-up wing four times, he managed to cough up the piece. Elena looked at the ingested food with a disgusted face.

"Ewwwwwwwwwww."

"Don't choke, Blu. It's just me."

Blu walked up to Abe. He stood only five inches away from the entrance and eleven inches from Abe's face. Abe smiled.

"I finally found you. It took a while, but I found your nest."

"Papa, what that scary…thing?"

"He's my friend. His name is Abe."

"Papa has weird friends," commented Leoncio.

"Shush," said Blu and then he turned back at Abe. "Sorry about that. My son doesn't know his manners yet."

"You know I don't understand squawks," said Abe. "Anyways, I came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?"

"You're probably wondering why. Well, Tulio fired me. He said the robot was not what he wanted; even though I said it would be an animatron."

Blu lowered his head slightly and looked into Abe's brown eyes. Abe was another human friend he made, but his friend would be gone soon.

"I don't know when I'm exactly leaving since I can use this as my vacation time, but it might be the last time I'll see you."

Abe looked behind Blu and saw the scared chicks. He chuckled and reached for them in one end. Basically cornered, the chicks waited for the hand to pulverize them. It never did. Jalin was the first to open his eyes. A finger was brushing his feathers on his head. It felt nice. Elena and Leoncio slowly opened their eyes after their brother opened his eyes, to see what became of him. When they saw him getting petted with a tanned finger, they looked up at the finger, wanting to get petted too. They did. Abe retreated his hand from Elena, the last chick he petted, after ten seconds. As he did, a blue macaw swooped down from the skies, bashing him with a book. He lost his grip and fell down from the branch he fell from. He protected the back of his hand by moving his spine along the neck forward. Blu walked outside and looked down. Jewel landed next to him with the book in her talons. Blu looked at Jewel, worried.

"Why did you do that?"

"I thought he was getting the chicks."

"Mama back!" cheered Elena.

Jalin walked out to join his father. He looked down.

"That was nice thing. It was giving me rubby on my head."

Abe groaned and looked up. He saw three macaws looking down at him, two were adults. He recognized Jewel.

"Nice to see you, Jewel."

Feeling bad, Jewel left the book on the branch and flew down. Abe had just gotten up when Jewel perched herself on his right shoulder. He looked at her and saw her worried, green eyes. Her head was slightly tilted down to add to her hopes of forgiveness. Abe smiled.

"Don't worry, Jewel. I'm fine."

Abe reached into his pocket with his left hand. He pulled his hand out and proceeded to brushing Jewel's back with his fingers. Jewel was against the whole petting thing, since it dignified an animal as being a pet, but Abe's fingers running down her spine felt good. It was like her stress was being lifted. Abe stopped after five strokes. She faced him and squawked. Abe smiled. Jewel flew back up to Blu and Jalin. Abe looked up at Blu, who was still looking down at him. Abe lazily saluted Blu with his index finger and middle finger of his right hand. He dropped his hand and walked out of the forest. Jewel picked up the book and led Jalin back into the tree den. Blu watched as Abe disappeared from his sight. He returned back into the tree den. He smiled at the sight of Jewel being surrounded by the kids as she showed them the book made of landscaped computer paper and two thick sheets of paper that sandwiched the color-printed papers and was kept together by a spiraling ring that went through the twenty edge holes Linda made. He walked to his family and joined them. His chicks marveled at the beautiful pictures that the book displayed as Jewel read to them.

"There were three little piggys that lived with their mama."

She showed the kids the picture for a few seconds more until she flipped the page.

"One day, their mama told them it was time for them to…leaf home."

"Honey, that's leave."


	9. Bath Time

A day had passed since Abe came to say his final goodbyes. Blu was staring up at the clear, blue sky. Abe didn't need to say goodbye. He was drawn to Rio because of his work. It was the fact that he said goodbye that made Blu feel closer to him. He sighed.

"Blu?"

He looked back at Jewel, who was inside the tree den.

"Yes, Jewel?"

"Can you help me out with the kids? They're giving me a headache."

Blu stood up and walked back inside the tree den. The kids were just sitting in the nest, like angels. He faced his mate.

"I thought you said you needed my help?"

"I do. I need to clean the nest."

"No!" cried the kids.

Blu faced the kids.

"Kids, Jewel needs to clean the nest. In fact…"

He looked into the nest and checked. He quickly pulled back once he smelled it. He moved back two steps and plucked his nose.

"Pee-you! That nest is smelly."

"I've been telling them to move so I can clean it," said Jewel.

"Kids, why are you not listening Mama?"

"But Papa…" began Elena.

"What?"

"What about the scary monster?"

"What scary monster?"

"Shhh," said Jalin. "If you tell them, the monster will get you."

"But I did," Elena said in a panic.

"Then, bye-bye."

Elena started to cry.

"Wait," said Blu. "What about a scary monster?"

Elena hiccupped as Jalin's shoulder tapped her shoulder.

"Leoncio said that if we leave the nest when Mama cleaning it, a monster get us. Oh, Papa! The monster gonna get me and take me away! I don't want to go!"

Elena busted out into tears. Jewel and Blu narrowed their eyes at Leoncio. He gulped and shrunk his head closer to his body. He faced the crying Elena.

"Dummy, I told you not tell them."

"Leoncio!" snapped Jewel.

She quickly closed his beak tight with her wing. Her eyes burned through Leoncio's eyes.

"We are going to get soap for your dirty beak."

Blu then thought of something. His face softened.

"Speaking of soap, when was the last time these kids had a bath?"

Jewel released her grip around Leoncio's eyes.

"Never," she simply said.

The kids gulped.

"But Papa, we clean," said Jalin. "We don't need bath."

"Yeah," said Elena, who had stopped crying as soon as she heard Blu said bath. "We fine."

"You're not clean," said Blu. "Your mama and I have to clean the nest for you. Now, it defeats the purpose of cleaning it when you are all dirty chicks."

"But Papa, we no see you take bath," said Leoncio. "Or Mama."

Blu lifted his right wing and smelled underneath it. He put his wing back down.

"Okay. So I need a bath."

"I think we all do," said Jewel. "Otherwise, we will be known as the smelly blue birds."

"Then it's settled. I'll take the boys, and you'll take Elena."

Jewel nodded. The chicks shivered at the thought of bath time, having active imaginations of Blu and Jewel laughing maniacally.

* * *

><p>Abe entered the bird sanctuary. He walked up to one of the bird aides that were assisting an injured bird that they found today. It was not severely hurt, so the aide saw no harm in assisting him. Abe smiled at the aide for common curiosity.<p>

"Hi, is Dr. Monterio here?"

"Yes, but he's very busy now."

"Oh. Alright."

He knew the aide was referring to the Japanese. Tulio was a bright man with birds, but he was very predictable. Abe knew that Tulio hired the Japanese because he suggested. That and because Japan had the biggest industry with friendlier robots. Who else was he going to call?

"Just tell him that I give my farewells."

"Oh, you are leaving?"

"My flight is tomorrow afternoon. Okay then. Bye."

"Bye."

Abe turned around and marched to the front door, passing the colorful birds in their opened cages. He opened the door and went through it.

* * *

><p>Jewel and Elena were standing on the rocks near the shallow stream. Trees of the jungle surrounded the stream only a few feet away from it. It was the same creek Jewel met Pepito. She inhaled the air deeply and exhaled with pleasure. She looked down at Elena.<p>

"This is my favorite spot in the jungle. It's so… Ahhh."

Elena looked up as her mother exhaled loudly.

"So what, Mama?"

"So beautiful," she smiled. "I hope it can be your favorite spot too."

Elena looked at the stream and lightly smirked.

"I think no."

"C'mon. You know, I was kind of scared of taking baths, but my mother said I would love them."

"Do you?"

"It took a couple of years to really like them."

"More than Papa?"

"I like them a lot, but I love Papa more."

"That good. I not want a water place to be my new Papa."

Jewel smiled. She extended her wing down towards Elena.

"C'mon."

Elena grabbed her mother's wing, and they both walked into the shallow river. Elena shivered as her feet touched the cold water.

"Aye Mama. It cold."

"Only for a little bit, Meja. Your feet will warn up a little bit."

Jewel was right. After a few seconds, her feet did warm up. Her eyes glittered in astonishment. She faced Jewel, who was looking down at her.

"Feeling better?" asked Jewel.

Elena nodded. Jewel lowered her beak and collected some water. She then moved above Elena's head and opened her beak. Water fell on Elena's head. Elena shivered a little.

"Mama...why you…do that?"

"Well, it's part of bath time."

"But no fair. I wish I bigger."

Jewel smiled and lowered her head so Elena's head could hover over it.

"Okay then," said Jewel. "You do me."

Elena's face brightened. She giggled as she lowered her head to collect some water. She moved her head above Jewel's head and opened her beak. Water spilled on the back of Jewel's head. Elena chuckled as Jewel lifted her head.

"See?" said Jewel.

Elena smiled.

"I think I do like baths."

"And you look more beautiful too."

"You too, Mama."

"Jewel!"

Jewel and Elena looked up and saw a bird coming down towards them. The bird had a chick on her back. She smoothly landed in front of Jewel. The small bird slide down off its mama's back. Jewel's face brightened as Elena took a couple of steps back.

"Jewel, it is nice to see you."

"Same here, Eva. It's been so long."

Eva, the Keel-Bill Toucan, looked over Jewel's side and saw the baby macaw.

"Oh, this must be your daughter."

"Yes. Elena, this is Eva. She's a good friend of mine."

Elena slowly walked a little forward, displaying shyness.

"Hi," she simply said.

"Hello," said Eva. "You know, I have a daughter too. Esmeralda."

Esmeralda, a Keel-Bill Toucan chick, approached her mother's front. She had been playing in the water, ignoring the Spix's Macaws.

"Yes Mama?"

"Honey, this is Jewel and her daughter Elena."

She glanced up at Jewel briefly. She then looked at Elena and took a few steps towards her.

"Hello."

"Hi," replied Elena.

"Do you like baths too?"

Elena's face lightened up a little.

"Now, I do. Where you in the jungle?"

"Mmm… Close that way."

Esmeralda pointed at the opposite end of the river from where Jewel and Elena's tree den was.

"Oh," said Elena. "You have brothers?"

"Yeah. And sisters."

"Sisters too? I only have brothers. How much?"

"Um…seventeen."

Elena's face grew in shock.

"Seventeen… Um, how much seventeen?"

Esmeralda smiled.

"I show you. Follow me."

Happily, the two girls went to the bank of the river. Esmeralda was going to show how much seventeen was by placing seventeen pebbles in a row. Jewel watched them and smiled.

"They're getting along."

Eva glanced back and then turned towards Jewel.

"So is she your only girl?"

"Yep. I have two boys and one girl."

"So where are they?"

"With Blu. He's giving them their own baths."

* * *

><p>Jalin dipped his right wing into the shallow creek far from where Jewel and Elena were. He had gone into the water under his father's order. He had the most upward respect for his father, even though he was skeptical about it at first. It was the fear that Leoncio had placed in him that made he to not like bath time. Speaking of Leoncio, Jalin watched him as he had his wings around a planted rock while Blu was trying to pull him off.<p>

"C'mon, Leoncio," Blu struggled to say as most of his concentration was focused on pulling Leoncio's feet.

"No! I don't want bath time!"

"Papa, I think you're gonna break him in half," said Jalin.

Blu pulled one more time, but he failed to get Leoncio off. Blu released his legs as Leoncio's wings remained tightly around the rock.

"Fine! I give up."

Blu then walked towards Jalin and walked into the water. He lowered his beak to collect some water in it. He moved his head above Jalin and dropped the water. Jalin's eyes closed as the water splashed on his head. He opened his eyes and looked at his father.

"Papa! Why did you do that?"

"You always wet your head first. It's to let your brain know that water is hitting you. It's faster than your feet telling your brain."

"Wow," commented Jalin. "Papa, you're smart."

"I read a lot."

"Oh, what's for story time tonight?"

Blu chuckled.

"I told you it was a surprise. It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

"But it could be our sex."

"Mejo, I already told you. It's just a secret."

"Yeah, but you told us a sex is a super-secret."

Blu sighed. This whole sex-secret thing was getting deeper and deeper into the hole. Luckily, he had convinced all three chicks to not tell Jewel or else it would be the wing.

"Okay, but still, you are not supposed to know."

"Awww…"

Blu lowered his head. Jalin stood confused.

"Son, can you pour some water on my head?"

Jalin smiled as he lowered his head to collect some water. He raised his head and poured the water onto Blu's head. He lifted his head and shook it.

"Boy, that hit the spot!"

"Blu, is that you?"

On the opposite of the creek from where Leoncio still locked his wings around the rock stood two Lear's Macaws. Blu smiled as Jalin hid behind Blu. Leoncio saw the blue bird that was obviously female. A thought came to him.

"Oh, no! Papa's cheating on Mama."

Blu smacked his head with his wing as the mother Lear's Macaw approached him with her son. He looked at Jalin, who probably was less likely to jump to conclusions. He grabbed his wing and brought him to his front.

"Hi, Fides."

"It's Blu bird!" exclaimed Pepito.

Pepito ran up to Blu's side and hugged him. Blu smiled.

"Hey, Pepito."

He looked at Jalin and then faced Blu.

"Did he come out of the egg?"

"Yes, he's Jalin and that over there is Leoncio."

Pepito looked at Leoncio curiously.

"What's wrong with him? Was he born with a rock?"

Leoncio narrowed his eyes. Pepito faced Jalin.

"Hi. I'm Pepito. What's your name?"

"I'm Jalin. Um, how you know Papa?"

"He and Jewel, I think your mama, saved me and got me to my mama."

"Oh," said Jalin, feeling more confident that what Leoncio shouted was a lie. "Are you here for bath time too?"

"Yeah, but now, I have a new friend to play with."

"A friend?" wondered Jalin as his face brightened. "I always wanted a friend."

"C'mon. I'll show you a splashing game."

Pepito walked a foot away from Fides and Blu. Jalin followed Pepito, eager to play a game. Pepito faced him.

"Okay, you stand a little in front of me."

Jalin walked a few inches in front of Pepito. Pepito lowered his bent wings into the water. Jalin copied his move.

"Okay. All you do is pushed the water towards me, and I do the same to you. Like this."

Pepito pushed the water towards Jalin, soaking him. Jalin quivered a bit, but he stood strong. He did the same thing, soaking Pepito now. Jalin smiled and laughed. He continued to splash Pepito as he did the same. Their splashes were the same power, even though Pepito was a little bit bigger.

Leoncio observed as his brother and Pepito played the splashing game. It seemed fun. He slowly released his embrace from the rock and walked up to the edge of the bank of the river. He looked at the water. Even though he didn't want to get into the water, he wanted to play the game. Convincing himself he could win if he tagged with his brother and then splashing his brother after Pepito was out, he put his foot in. After one foot was in, the other was in momentarily. He smiled and rushed over to play the game. Blu smiled as his two boys played the game with Pepito.

Well, there's one way to get Leoncio in. Thanks Pepito.

Blu faced Fides.

"So how have you been?"

"Pretty good. I'm finally seeing someone."

"Oh. Good for you. Um, is he living with you?"

"No. I'm living with him. He was going to Rio to get some things for the nest. I'm kind of expecting a chick."

"Oh, congratulations. How did Pepito take it?"

"He's thrilled at the thought of having a younger one to play with and serve as a brother. It took a lot of explaining to him, but he finally came to appreciate Luis and this egg."

"That's good. Did he peek into you guys as you…you know."

"Oh. We made sure he slept over my neighbor's nest. She and her two chicks always like it when Pepito's over."

Blu smiled, wishing he could have done the same.

"Oh, that reminds me," said Fides. "Do you guys have another blue bird?"

"What do you mean? Like a daughter? She's with Jewel."

"Nope. We were flying over your tree den to reach here when we saw a blue bird standing in your branch. We thought it was you and were going to say hi, but there were three men near the bird. I don't know what they were doing, but I think it was the doctor's aides."

"It could be."

Even though he said he agreed, he highly doubted that they were Tulio's helpful aides. Call it a sixth sense or a hunch, but the fact was that something new was waiting for him and his family back at his home.


	10. Surprise

Blu, Jalin, and Leoncio were returning home to see if Fides was right. After thirty minutes at the creek, Blu decided to go. He did not want to alarm the kids right away. Besides, this thing was most likely the animatron Abe built. He just didn't know it would be up and running today.

"Papa, why did we have to go?" asked Jalin, who was riding on Blu's back.

"Yeah," agreed Leoncio, who was held by Blu's talons. "I was winning the game."

Jalin looked down, carefully peeking under Blu's shoulder.

"You were cheating."

"I wasn't."

"Was."

"Wasn't."

"Was!"

"Wasn't!"

"Kids!" snapped Blu. "You're giving Papa a headache, and Jalin, sit down right. I don't want you to fall off."

Jalin obeyed and sat down securely on Blu's back.

"We might have a guest," explained Blu. "That's why we had to leave."

"A guest?" wondered Jalin. "Pepito?"

"You stupid," said Leoncio. "He was with us and left with his mama."

"Leoncio," snapped Blu, "stop calling your brother names."

Blu's felt a drop of water on his back. He was going to say something when Jalin spoke first.

"Stop it, Leoncio. You scaredy-cat."

"I'm no scaredy-cat!"

"Uh huh. You didn't want to go in water."

"Nah huh. I just didn't want to."

"Because you're a scaredy-cat."

"Both of you stop now, or Papa's going to get very mad."

The two macaw kids stopped their arguing under their Papa's orders and quietly looked at the trees ahead of them. Blu thanked for the peace and quiet as they got closer to the tree den. He found the tree and gently glided down towards it. As they got closer, all three macaws saw three macaws on the branch. Jewel, as predicted by Blu, was already back home. Jewel and Elena looked up to find Blu landing next to them. Jalin slid off Blu's back as Blu released Leoncio from his grip. Jewel confronted Blu.

"Oh, good. You're back. It seems we weren't the only ones."

Blu faced the other Spix's Macaw. At first, he really thought that it was another one. It had dark blue feathers and green eyes. Its feathers appeared fluffy, and its beak was more charcoal colored than black. Blu walked up to the bird and smiled. He extended his wing out.

"Hi. I'm Blu."

The bird moved his wing to shake Blu's wing, but he ended up lightly slapping it. It was more like a high-five sideways for Blu. The bird dropped its wing to his side.

"Hi."

"What's your name?" asked Blu.

"Hi."

"No, your name."

"Hi."

"Papa," said Elena. "He already told you. His name is Hi."

Blu looked at Jewel and shrugged. He then faced the one who Elena called Hi.

"Where are you from?"

"Hi. Jungle I from."

"What part?" asked Jewel.

Hi pointed towards south. He then dropped his wing and walked to the inside of the den. The family watched as he welcomed himself in.

"That was kind of rude," commented Blu.

Jewel nudged his chest with her wing shoulder.

"Hush Blu," she whispered at him. "He's a poor bird. He probably has some type of amnesia and can't remember who he is."

Blu knew Jewel was wrong. Of course, he didn't want to tell her. She was so happy on having a guest, especially since it was another Spix's Macaw. She probably thought if there was one, there probably were more. Jewel and the kids walked inside to make the so-called guest to feel comfortable. Blu stood outside.

"Jewel, I'm going to get some dinner."

"Okay. Hurry back, my Blu mate."

Blu knew why she called him that at the moment. She had called him that so he wouldn't feel jealous. Ha! Why should he feel jealous? After all, he had a feeling he knew more about Hi than Hi did himself. He flapped his wings and took to the skies.

* * *

><p>Far from Blu's tree den, a computer screen was surrounded by four people. The doctor, Tulio, smiled when he witnessed the outcome of the Japanese work. It seemed that the animatron was communicating to the macaws quite smoothly. The best part was that he wasn't commanding it to. The Japanese had built this robotic arm that connected itself to a webcam that served as its eye. Because of special visual software, the arm would react to what the webcam capture. The arm would then press a button on the twenty-key keyboard. The Japanese had altered the bird command program so that the commands could easily be ordered by pressing a button. The robotic arm would move to what the camera saw on the computer monitor and press the button that would best fit the scenario.<p>

"Amazing," Tulio breathed.

The Japanese man, who led the project, smiled.

"Yes," he said in an accent. "It is incredible. This robot is very life-like to other birds and people who see it."

"This is more I could hope for, and at half the cost."

The leader smiled. His dimples showed in detail. He cupped his hands together as he brought his hands down in front of him.

"Yes. Abe didn't know of this…um…potential. His bird was very very easy to change."

"I see that," Tulio said. "That boy just doesn't understand the importance of this project. I'm very pleased that you were done so fast."

"Not like Abe, we are very prideful at our work."

Tulio smiled and looked at his watch. He gasped.

"Oh dear! It's almost seven thirty. I'm supposed to be home for dinner."

The Japanese leader continued to smile.

"Don't worry. You can go, and we will make sure the robot is working just fine. You go enjoy yourself."

Tulio nodded.

"If you need anything, there's a security guard patrolling the halls. He will help you if you have any questions. Just tell him when you leave."

The Japanese leader nodded. Tulio smiled and left the room. The Japanese leader dropped the smile and faced his associates.

"Ima."

His Japanese associate nearest to the red button on the keyboard pushed it down. The leader had mentioned to Tulio that was the on-and-off switch. It was far from it.

* * *

><p>Jewel and the kids had already gone to sleep. Blu had tried to go to sleep, but he couldn't. Something in his conscious told him that this was all wrong. He looked at Hi and saw him just standing there. He didn't have his eyes close, which made it creepier. Jewel and the chicks slept peacefully. They would have not gone to sleep with this thing staring at them. Luckily for them, they had fallen asleep when it was looking outside.<p>

I'm surprised they didn't catch it during dinner. The bird doesn't eat. Jewel suggested that it already ate, but I doubt it. There's only one person that can show Jewel and the kids that is not a real bird. I hope he's still at that hotel.

Blu stood up and carefully walked into the shadows of the den. The robotic bird followed him with its eyes, but it failed to see through the darkness. As it was concentrated on the spot Blu disappeared in, Blu fly up a little and jetted out of the tree den. The robot bird faced the sleeping macaws and walked up to them, opening its mouth. Large deposits of carbon dioxide expelled out of its beak. The chemical made it way up the beaks of the sleeping macaws, making them numb.

* * *

><p>Blu flew up to the window of the hotel room Abe stayed in. He noticed the window was closed. He landed on the edge of some brick and tapped the window with his beak. Someone moved the curtains and opened the window. Blu smiled and let himself in. He landed on the table against the window. It served as Abe's work table, where he wrote the blueprints.<p>

"Blu?" wondered Abe. "What are you doing here?"

Blu looked over at Abe's bed. Clothes were sprayed on the bed. Some were already folded while a few were in opened suitcases and travel bags. Blu looked up at Abe and squawked in a concerning tone.

"I told you I would be here for a couple of days."

"No, you didn't," said Blu. "You **thought** you would be here for a couple of days."

"So what brings you here?"

Abe scratched his head as Blu intensely stared at him.

"What?"

Blu motioned his wing as if he was writing with a pen. Abe's eyes grew wider as he remembered Blu needed something to write on to talk to him. Abe walked to one of the two closed suitcases against the nightstand near the bed and opened it. He got out a notebook and a pencil. He placed them down in front of Blu. Blu opened the green-cover notebook and began to write something down. After he was done, Abe read it.

"The robot? What robot? I built an animatron."

Blu wrote something else down.

"Modified?" Abe wondered as Blu finished writing. "Could be. Those Japanese could make something better in their liking, like any country would do. But if it's up and running, it's not that good. I mean perfect. The language would be off and it would be incapable of reacting like a real bird."

Blu wrote something.

"I know you knew. You helped me. Did Jewel believe you?"

Blu looked down.

"Well, I know it's late, but let's show her."

Blu looked at him curiously. Wasn't the whole point was to not let them know? The pencil began moving again. Abe chuckled.

"There was a point I designed it that way Blu, but it's best to show Jewel it is a machine. We need to show her you're telling the truth."

Blu's eyes widened. Abe just smiled.

"I knew you came for that. Otherwise, why would you come at ten in the dark? Now granted that the jungle is dangerous during the night, let me get ready for the walk. You could either stay here or I meet up with you at the tree den."

Blu thought about as Abe went through the suitcases and travel bags for equipment. He decided to stay since he could help guide Abe through the jungle.

* * *

><p>A hand grabbed Jewel as she lied as if she was dead. The hand pulled her out of the tree den and placed her in a cage on the branch. The man grabbed the cage and carefully stepped down the ladder. Once down the stairs, he walked to the jeep that was several meters away from the tree. He placed the cage on the back of the old Jeep Wrangler. The baby macaws were in a separate cage, next to Jewel. The man covered them with a thick white tarp. He strapped the tarp down with some white rope. After he was done, he walked to the passenger's seat of the car. His partner was in the driver's seat, waiting for him.<p>

"Sorera o eta ka?"

"Hai, sore wa dansei no yukue fumei no yō ni narimasu.."

"Kagiri, wareware wa hahaoya to akanbō no hiyoko o motte iru toshite, wareware wa mondai arimasen. Igai ni mo, osoraku tori ga saigen suru koto wa dekimasen."

"Shin no. Sate sate Hayato, doraibu."

Hayato shifted the gear into drive and pressed the foot pedal down. The two men drove off, cruising down the jungle to pick up their leader at the Rio beach in front of Copacabana.


	11. To Ramos

Abe and Blu had made it to the tree den. Blu led the way as Abe followed Blu. Blu tried to fly back home the safest way possible for the Yamaha ATV to venture safely through. Abe did run over the occasional boulder bumps. Abe parked the ATV about an eighth of a mile away and ran towards the tree. Blu was waiting on the branch, already witnessing the horror.

Jewel and the kids. Where are they?

Abe approached the tree, but something caught the corner of his eye. He walked over to some leafs that appeared to be covering something. He moved the jumbo leaves aside and saw his project. The droid was still in one piece for the most part. He picked it up and examined it. A peculiar scent traveled up his nostrils.

Carbon dioxide, he thought. A large quantity too. Almost acidic, but not quite. Effective enough to knock out a few birds. Damn. Those Japanese scientists were also poachers.

Abe looked up to see if he could spot Blu. He decided to climb up the tree as quickly as he could. Still holding the animatronic bird in his hand, he made it up to the branch that stuck out in front of the entrance of the den. He saw Blu near the nest, grazing it with his wing.

Why? Blu thought. Why again? Why can't these poachers just leave us alone? These bad people don't care about anyone, less likely an animal. Don't they have hearts or souls?

"Blu."

Blu faced Abe with a sadden face.

"Um…I know it's a little hard-"

"A little? My family was kidnapped! How can a mere human relate to my stress? You share no pain I'm feeling now."

"Okay. Extremely hard. Listen, I've gone through it also, but there was no possibility for a happy ending for my case, especially when it was my fault."

Abe faced away from Blu and sighed. Blu's face lightened a little.

"I was just a kid," Abe said at no one in particular. "Just a kid. How would I know how it would end? My family… All were slaughter…by the man I was making deals with. He promised me that if I built him weapons, he would leave my family alone. I was blind. If I had seen through his lying threat, I could've…"

He looked at Blu.

"I know what you're going through. Your family was taken by those people working for Tulio."

Suddenly, Abe smirked.

"Too bad they don't know who's they are dealing with."

Blu was stunned by the look Abe gave.

"What was that for? You think this is funny? My family is gone and you're chuckling?"

"Remember that last visit when Jewel bashed me with a book? You saw me reach into my pocket and pull out nothing? Well, I did grab something. It was so small that most can't see it. When I was brushing Jewel with my hand, I placed a very tiny microchip. A GPS chip."

Abe got out a T-Mobile MyTouch phone.

"This looks like a normal cell phone, but after I got the iPhone, I decided to make this into one of those spy gadgets. Thus, I made a portable GPS tracker."

Abe pressed the green phone button, and the screen glowed. It showed where the microchip was located in the screen. Abe zoomed out of the five-mile radius map until he saw a green dot near Rio. That was where this phone-looking GPS was.

"I may be a newcomer to this, but don't underestimate me."

Blu smiled and flew out of the tree. He swooped down to the ATV. Abe let his hand go from the branch and landed with his knees bending. He stood up and ran towards the ATV. He got on and started the vehicle. The vehicle quickly accelerated as it made its way back to Rio.

* * *

><p>With a brute stop of the Jeep, Jalin's head hit the cage. He opened his eyes with a daze. He looked around and noticed that a large, white tarp covered them. At first, he thought he was imagining things. He rubbed his eyes and blinked. Nope, he wasn't. The tarp and the cages were real.<p>

He looked to his left. He saw his younger siblings were still sleeping. He looked to his right to see the sleeping Jewel in another cage. He began to panic and called out for Jewel.

"Mama! Mama!"

He failed to wake up Jewel first, but he succeeded in waking someone else up. By that time, the vehicle was moving again.

"Jalin, you shut up?" asked Leoncio in an annoyed tone. "I sleeping here."

"But Leoncio, we're not home."

Leoncio finally noticed the tarp and the cages. His eyes sprung wide open. He lowered his neck closer to his body and tightened his wings closer to his body.

"Where are we? What happened to us and Mama. Where Papa?"

Jalin just realized he didn't see Blu. He checked his surroundings and saw his father nowhere. Leoncio proceeded to wake up his sister by shaking her a little violently. Elena woke up in an annoyed tone.

"Mama! Leoncio shook me in mean way."

"No, I didn't! You are making things up again."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Jewel's eyes slowly opened at Leoncio and Elena arguing. Her mind was still at rest.

"Blu," she mumbled, not really paying attention to anything, "can you tell the kids to be quiet? Mama needs her beauty sleep."

She heard no response, but she didn't care. She was much too tired. Unfortunately, she heard the arguing getting worse after Elena began crying. She lazily stood up with her sleeping eyes having blurry vision and walked towards the kids as if she was sleepwalking. Her senses became wide awake once she hit the cage bars.

"What the-"

She blinked a few times to make her vision clear. She gasped and looked around in despair. Once again, she found herself in a cage. She looked over at her kids. Leoncio and Elena still went on. Jalin got irritated.

"Will you stop it?" almost yelled Jalin.

Leoncio and Elena stopped after they heard their brother's overpowering voice. They looked at each other in shame and faced Jalin.

"This serious," said Jalin. "We in strange things. Don't know where Papa is or where we are. This is very bad. We need find way out."

"Jalin," said Jewel calmly.

Jalin faced Jewel. Her eyes were glossy as she stared at her son. She had rested her back against her cage side to the right of Jalin. She sighed heavily.

"These strange things are called cages. Humans put birds and other animals in here for going somewhere. These humans driving this moving thing called a car probably took us when we were all sleeping. Kids, we are far away from home now."

The three macaw chicks looked down at the floor of the cage. Jalin lifted his head up slightly after a few seconds.

"Mama, where's Papa?"

A tear trickled down her cheek.

"I don't know."

Jewel feared the worst. Tears poured out as she moved her wing up to her eyes to cry on it. The knowledge of her mate probably being gone made her sick in the stomach. Blu, her mate, was possibly gone. There was still some hope, but hope for her when dealing with poachers always dwindled in her life. Her father, mother, and stepfather were all killed by these poachers. Blu. Could he have met the gruesome fate too. The chicks looked at their mother.

"Mama," said Elena. "Papa is alive."

"He very smart," said Leoncio. "Maybe went for help."

"Don't worry, Mama," said Jalin. "Papa will get us."

Jewel stopped crying and sniffled a bit. She looked at her kids, who all gave a comforting smile. She returned the smile. Even though she made the kids believe she believed Blu was fine, Jewel could only wonder what happened to her mate.

* * *

><p>Abe and Blu made it back to Rio. They were in the beachfront area of the luxurious hotel Abe stayed in. Abe stopped the vehicle on the sand and checked his GPS tracker. The red central dot was near Ramos, Brazil. The dot was probably eleven kilometers away. Blu, stuck on where to go, went down from the sky towards Abe. He landed on Abe's shoulder.<p>

"They are near Ramos. If they are carrying Jewel and your chicks by car, it's most likely a four-wheel car. Motorcycles will probably have better accelerations and top speeds."

"But we don't have one," squawked Blu.

Abe abandoned the ATV on the beach and started to sprint towards the parking lot. Blu flew off his shoulder the instant he got off the ATV. Once in the parking lot, Abe looked around and smiled when he saw a Suzuki motorcycle mounted and strapped down on a trailer that was chained by a towing wheel of a Ford F250. Abe got out a razor sharp knife from his pocket. The switchblade knife looked more like a thick, sharp dagger. Using it, he hacked the flattened ropes in half. Blu watched as he basically hotwired the motorcycle.

"What are you doing? That's illegal."

"Will you stop squawking Blu? You're going to wake up the people."

"That's the whole point. You're stealing a bike!"

Abe finally got the motorcycle to start. He moved it off the trailer. Its tires bounced as they hit the floor. If it wasn't for Abe's grip, the motorcycle would had fallen on its side.

"There," he smiled. "One bike ready to go."

He noticed Blu looking at him with total disgust.

"Look," he said. "I know I'm…'borrowing' this, but we need to get to those poachers before they leave the country. I promise to give it back to the owner after this. Take to the skies and go towards Ramos. I'll be right behind you."

Blu nodded. He flew towards Ramos, which was north of Rio. Abe smiled at the road ahead of him.

Brings back so many memories, Abe thought. Got to do this more often.

He turned the hand throttle and went his way up north to Ramos.


	12. Rescue

Jewel watched as the kids finally went to sleep. They were still in the car, riding up to who knows where. She sighed. Where were these poachers taken them? Britain? France? The United States? All she knew was that she was away from her home near Rio.

What hope is there, thought Jewel. These men stood us during the night. During the time of shadows, they took us away undetected. This is the second time this happened to me. How can we assure safety when it's just false hope?

Something sparked in her head.

Blu. My love, where are you? I don't want to worry the kids, but I'm afraid your time in this world is over. I don't doubt you. I just have to face the highest chance of you surviving. To me, it's slim. That robot could have been the cause of it. Like in my dream. That robot could've killed you under the humans' orders. Hm, listen to me. I believe my dream more than in you, but my world shattered when I woke up. You were not at my side. If these poachers kidnapped us, wouldn't they also kidnap you?

Jewel's eyes widened as she gasped.

What if they decided you were too old? Or maybe you attacked them? That robot could have killed you? Your death could have been an accident to these men?

A tear trickled down Jewel's cheek.

Oh, Blu. I just… I wish you were at my side. I need you. You were the bird I fell for and will continue to fall for you, even if you…

"Mama?"

Jewel turned to her left and saw Jalin near the cage side that braised her cage side. She saw the image of him being locked being bars, an image that no mother ever wanted to see. She saw fear in his eyes.

"Yes, Jalin?"

"I'm scared."

Jewel extended her wing out through the bars in front of her son. She grabbed her son's wing.

"It will be okay."

"Mama, no lying."

Jewel slightly chuckled.

"Blu was right. You are very smart. You got his brain."

Jalin slightly smiled. He dropped the smile when a thought came in mind.

"Mama? Papa; he's not coming, is he?"

Jewel looked down. Jalin was smart. Lying to him was not an option. She had to be honest.

"Mejo, I really don't know. I've been thinking about your Papa and his safety, but…"

Jalin saw a tear slide down his mother's eye. He sighed. He had made his mother feel terrible. He tightened his wing grip around her wing.

"Mama, can you tell me a story about Papa? What happened before I hatched?"

A lot of things happened to Jewel and Blu, but she wanted to tell her son about a memory that didn't include them almost dying or anything inappropriate that involved a male and a female. Most likely one that included the eggs. That way Jalin could be somewhat a part of. Well, there was that one incident with Jalin when he was an egg.

"Jalin, there is something you should know. It includes your father too."

She paused and heaved heavily.

"I'm sorry we kept it for so long from you. We thought it would be best to wait until you were older, but I don't know where this car is taking us. This could be our last chance together."

* * *

><p>Blu looked down from the sky, looking if Abe was still behind him. That human was still following him. He was zigzagging through the poorly developed street. Potholes and loose gravel decorated the street in some areas of it. Blu looked ahead.<p>

Don't worry. I'll save you all.

* * *

><p><em>Jewel watched as Blu sat on the eggs. She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her. Jewel took a bite of the leftover mango that was near the entrance of the tree den. She swallowed the piece of mango in her beak. She walked back to her mate and sat down next to him. She looked at him, but soon her eyes fell. She noticed something in the nest.<em>

_ "Blu, what is that?"_

_ Blu looked at where Jewel pointed. He saw a red and black bug of some sort. He panicked and jumped out of the nest. He saw that the thing was on one of the eggs. Without analyzing it, he grabbed the egg and shook the egg left and right to get the thing on. _

_ "Blu!" Jewel yelled. "You're going to crack the egg!"_

_ Blu soon stopped and examined it in his wings. The bug was off. He gently placed the egg down to his right side. He exhaled in relief and clumsily rested his wing on the egg. Unknown to him, the floor was slightly tilted. The egg started to roll away from him. Blu noticed his side was getting closer to the ground. He fell before he could react. Jewel scrambled to his feet as she watched in horror as the egg continued to roll towards the wall. She ran towards it, flapping her wings. Blu stood up and started to run towards the egg too. The two macaws collided with each other, only focusing on the egg. They lifted their heads up and saw the egg lightly tap the wall. _

_The egg stopped moving as it lied against the wall. Blu sighed. He looked at Jewel. She had her eyes narrowed at him. Blu got up and extended his wing down at Jewel. She slapped his wing away and got up herself. She walked over to the egg and picked it up. She carried it over to the nest and set it down gently. She faced her mate in annoyance. He tensed up._

_ "Jewel, it was an accident."_

_ "An accident? Blu! You could have broken it!"_

_ "I know. I'm sorry. That thing could have poisoned the egg. Besides, where is it?"_

_ Jewel saw it near Blu. She pointed at it. He looked down to his left and looked up with a blank face. He then nervously smiled._

_ "A leaf-footed bug."_

"So I was the egg?" wondered Jalin.

"Yes. Luckily, you hatched."

"I did. Was Papa in trouble?"

Jewel chuckled.

"Big trouble. He had to make it up to Mama for a week."

Jewel smiled warmly at Jalin.

"We were just glad you were born. All of you."

Jalin smiled.

"Me too. I love you, Mama."

"I love you too, Mejo."

Jalin dropped his wing from Jewel's wing.

"I wish Papa was here."

Jewel looked down.

"Me too. Me too."

* * *

><p>Abe spotted a vehicle ahead. The cell phone GPS began to ring, meaning they were close. Abe looked up ahead and saw the Jeep Wrangler. The black car was only two kilometers ahead of them. He looked up at Blu.<p>

"Blu!" he shouted as loud as he could. "Blu!"

After the fourth time, Blu heard his name and looked down at Abe. He flew down and continued to fly beside Abe. He had to adjust his speed to Blu's speed.

"Blu, that jeep ahead is the one that has your family."

Blu targeted the jeep and nodded.

"Just follow my lead. I will get them, but I need back up. Time to bring out the old hand-gun gag."

Blu took to the skies as Abe sped up. Blu looked down as Abe tucked his head closer to his body. He wore no helmet. The move he performed could've ended his life. Abe zoomed pass the car. The Japanese poachers watched in curiosity as the motorcycle passed them. The motorcycle caused them to slow down drastically. Hayato had to slam on the brake pedal. The vehicle jolted instead of stopping completely. Hayato pressed the gas pedal.

"Jakkasu!"

Abe looked back, knowing that he had pissed them off. Only a few meters away, he quickly stood on the bike and jumped towards them. With the jeep's current speed, they couldn't avoid it. Hayato slammed on the brakes, but the stopping time was only a couple of seconds. Abe got out two pistols from his belt in midair. He landed on the hood of the jeep and aimed at Hayato and his partner.

"You idiots."

"Right back at you."

Abe faced the leader. He pointed his pistol at Abe.

"You are a fool," said the leader in an accent. "There are three of us and one of you."

"Don't worry. My partner has it covered."

"Partner? What partner?"

The bald man soon felt something in his back. His eyes widened.

"Don't dare look back. My partner won't hesitate to kill you."

The leader smiled.

"Very smart, kid. I know who you are: Abe, the one who got fired by Tulio. Let me guess, you know our gig and want the birds. Let me show you the prize."

"Don't move!" Abe ordered. "I know the prize."

Under the tarp, Jalin and Jewel were hearing voices. They heard someone sound like Abe. Their eyes widened with joy. If Abe was here, there was a slim chance that Blu was here. Jalin squawked in delight.

"Papa!"

It seemed that the plan flew out of Blu's mind when he heard Jalin's voice. He formed a smile.

"Jewel! Kids!"

You blue idiot.

The leader grinned and fired his gun. Abe turned to his side, but the bullet entered him. The pain caused him to lose his footing. He fell off the hood of the jeep and smacked the paved road directly in front of the vehicle. The bike had skidded out of control and was on the ground three meters behind Abe's upper right, so Abe didn't hit it. The man grinned. Blu was too stunned to react. The leader snatched him up in his arms. He faced Hayato.

"Doraibu no."

Following his boss's orders, Hayato pressed the gas pedal down. The car's tires bumped twice. The leader looked back to see Abe lying motionless. He laughed. He faced Hayato's partner.

"Kenji, nisankatanso de kono tori o supurē."

Blu tried to squirm out of the leader's hand. He failed as he saw a valve of a can labeled CO2 turn. The can sprayed him with the chemical. He held his breath as long as he could before inhaling the chemical. Soon, the world he saw slowly turned black.


	13. Caged

The male macaw opened his eyes. He saw Jewel looking at him on his left side. Jewel smiled down at Blu. He looked up at her and smiled. She rubbed the dried tears away with her wing and bent down to give her mate a kiss. They parted from the swift kiss.

"Oh, Blu," said Jewel. "I'm just glad you're alive."

Blu looked at his surroundings. They were in what appeared to be an old storage room filled with crates that were ready to be shipped. The only lighting available hung loosely a few inches in front of them from the tall ceiling. Blu saw that they were in a cage, next to the kids who were also in a cage. The cages were on a large crate that touched the floor. In front of Blu were the men that kidnapped them. Two of them were sitting on wooden chairs that were part of a group of four chairs that surrounded a circular table. The two men were playing some kind of card game. Each had a beer bottle next to their playing cards. The third man was walking around, talking to someone on the phone in Japanese.

"Where are we?" asked Blu.

"I have no idea," replied Jewel. "These men are poachers, Blu."

"Not again. It's worst this time than last. Our kids are involved."

The three macaw chicks were sleeping.

"I know. It's all so terrifying for them. Jalin was the most worried, but he was more worried about us than himself."

Blu tried to recall the events leading up to him getting knocked-out. He remembered the time he was with Abe. How he gave him hope on finding his family. How he stole a motorcycle. How they found the car. How he got shot. The vivid image of that bullet entering Abe's arm replayed in Blu's mind. Just because of his squawk, Abe was now dead. He started to tremble.

"It's all my fault."

Jewel thought he was talking about the poachers getting them.

"Not at all. How were we supposed to know these so-called aides were poachers? Besides, it was Abe and that thing he built that got us into this mess the first place."

"No, it wasn't. The thing that Abe built seemed friendlier compared to the Japanese version. It was supposed to be a secret from us. Abe showed me that this fake bird was not a living organism. It was a machine. Tulio never wanted us to find out, but Abe told me anyway. I don't know why."

Jewel's face softened. She wrapped her wings around Blu. Blu placed his wings gently on Jewel's wings. Her right cheek rested on the back of his head.

"Blu, I'm sorry."

"He was a good human. I think he grew to like us. I mean, he didn't care at first, but that last visit showed me he did care for us."

The leader, the man on the phone, walked up to the cage and looked at Blu and Jewel. He eyed them, sending chills down their spines. He lifted his head and continued talking on the phone, walking away from them.

"Sixteen: Haha to chichi wa onaji nenrei no yō ni mieru. Akachan no kongouinko wa, osoraku tsuki ni furuidesu."

"What the heck is he saying?" Jewel whispered to Blu, letting go of him.

"I don't know any Japanese. All I got from that is sixteen."

"Sixteen what? Sixteen hundred dollars? Sixteen dollars? I am not worth sixteen dollars."

"I don't think he was talking about money. Didn't you see the way he was examining us? Besides, I think they already arranged a deal with their buyer."

"Then what could it be?"

"Sixteen…sixteen… Um, could it be how old we are?"

"Blu, I am not sixteen. You are. Your birthday was just a couple of weeks ago."

"Yeah, but that guy doesn't know. He doesn't even care. Besides, you're only four months younger than me."

"So you're saying I look old?"

"Of course not. You're still my beautiful Jewel."

Jewel looked at the man still on the phone.

"He better walk away. He's going to get my talons up his eyes."

"Jewel, stop overreacting."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"How dare you accuse me of overreacting. I am not overreacting."

"Then how do you propose to get to him when we're locked in this cage?"

Jewel began to calm down, but she soon started to cry. Blu wrapped his wings around her. She wrapped her wings around him.

"Let's just hope we find a way out," said Blu.

Leoncio woke up from his nap. He looked around and saw another blue bird next to his mama. He recognized it to be Blu. He rushed over to the side next to the side of his parents' cage, running over Jalin. He opened his eyes angrily.

"Leoncio, you stepped on me!"

He turned his head over to where Leoncio was. He was receiving a hug from his papa. He stood up happily and tapped Elena. She lazily opened her eyes.

"Elena, Papa's here."

Elena's eyes shot wide open. She stood up and ran behind Jalin to meet her papa. She was the last to receive a hug from Blu.

"Papa, I missed you so much," said Elena.

"Me too," said Jalin.

"Me three," said Leoncio.

"I did too, kids," said Blu. "It's good to see you are unharmed."

Jalin faced the men.

"Those three men," he said, still looking at them. "Are they going to sell us?"

"Most likely."

"Mama said that this might be the last time we might be together. Is it true, Papa?"

Blu sighed.

"I'm sorry. It's all true. These men do not care about us. They just see green."

"Green?" wondered Elena.

"Money," answered Jewel. "It's what humans use to get stuff from other people."

"These humans just see green," commented Blu. "It's so disgusting. There're other colors you know."

Blu looked around. He looked above the cage and saw nothing that could be of use. He sighed and scanned the area around him. The cages were isolated from the other things in the room.

"There's nothing I can use to get out."

The sound of an aluminum can hitting the ground echoed in the warehouse. The leader put the cell phone back in his pocket and took out his pistol. He faced his associates.

"Watashi wa sore o chekkuauto suru tsumoridesu. Koko ni taizai shi, kēji o mamoru."

The leader left to investigate the noise. Hayato and Kenji got out of their seats and got out their pistols. They walked up to the cages and looked around.

"Nani ka o sanshō shite kudasai?" asked Kenji.

Hayato shook his head. The two carefully looked around from their spot in front of the cages. The lack of light made it difficult to find anything suspicious. Soon, they heard a faint fire. It was more like a small balloon being popped. Kenji felt fine. He looked at his partner. Hayato stood drowsily, rocking his body back and forth. Finally, Hayato fell to the floor on his back. Kenji saw something with a puffy red tail. He bent down and saw that it was a tranquilizer. He didn't get a chance to stand up as a tranquilizer shot entered his rear. His eyes got heavily, and he fell asleep on top of Hayato. The birds had witnessed the two falling asleep.

"Blu, who did that?"

"I have no idea."

A figure was climbing down the crates by hopping on one crate to the next. He touched the floor and jogged over to the cage. As the light reflected off of him, Blu smiled. Abe looked down at Blu and grunted.

"You know you owe me a new shoulder."

The blood had stopped pouring out of the wound. Abe had wrapped a piece of cloth around his shoulder to get some pressure in it. The blood had stained his thick shirt he wore. The bullet had most likely entered the right shoulder when he was turning to avoid it. Blu squawked, causing a smile to form on Abe.

"Nice to see you too."

Abe looked at the cages and noticed they were locked with old padlocks. He walked over to the sleeping poachers and searched them. He found a set of padlock keys in Kenji's pocket. He walked over to the cage and unlocked the cage Blu and Jewel were in. He threw the padlock over his shoulder, and it hit Kenji on the head, giving him a small bruise. As Abe walked over to the baby macaws' cage, a voice stopped him.

"Abe, nice to see you drop by."

Abe smirked. He faced the leader, who held a gun aimed at him.

"Surviving that run-over was probably too easy for you."

"You ran me over? You ran two of my pistols over. You could've killed me, but your jeep had big wheels that lifted the axis of the car a foot and a half above the ground."

"It doesn't matter if you survived. You will die here. The odds are against you. Looks like the savior needs saving."

Blu zoomed by the leader's hand that held the gun. The force caused the man to let go of the gun. As the gun fell to the floor, Abe was prepared to punch the guy out. Jewel beat him to it by clawing his face with her talons. Abe and Blu just watched as the man frantically tried to get Jewel off, screaming like Princess Peach from Super Mario World.

After a few seconds, Jewel flew up. The scratches she left stung the man's face. He heard a squawk and looked up. He saw Jewel skydived towards him at a really fast speed. He tried to run, but Jewel was too fast. Jewel head-butted the man in the gonads. Abe and Blu flinched as the man fell to the floor in pain. Jewel flew back to Blu, who was out of the cage and on the crate that held the cages. He took a tiny step to the right, away from her. She faced him.

"What? No stranger calls me old and gets away for it."

Blu nodded. Abe walked to the leader with the gun the leader dropped. He pulled up a chair and sat down a couple of feet away from the pile of man.

"You're still awake, so let me make this clear. I have your gun, so don't move. The police are on their way."

Blu and Jewel walked over to the cage where their chicks were captive in and opened it using the padlock keys. The chicks ran out of the cage and confronted their parents. They hopped up and down.

"Mama!" said Leoncio. "That great!"

"I wanna be like Mama," said Elena.

Jewel chuckled.

"There, there."

Jalin faced his father and smiled.

"Everything's alright now."

"Yes, Son."

"Papa, thanks for coming to save us."

"What kind of father would I be if I didn't?"

Jalin didn't catch the slight sarcasm of this expression, so he answered.

"Not a very good one."


	14. Short Speech

Blu and Jewel were perched on Abe's shoulders as he carried a baby macaw in his hands. Leoncio and Elena were carried by a policewoman. They walked out of the storage warehouse, located a few miles away from Ramos. It was in a forest, near an open area where a plane could land. Once outside, the rising sun symbolized a new day for Blu.

Blu heard some footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw the Japanese leader in handcuffs. He was being escorted by two policemen. He looked at the back of Abe's head and yelled something at him.

"Hey, he's part of this too," he said in his English accent. "Arrest him! Those birds are not his!"

"They are not anyone's," Abe simply said.

The leader smiled.

"See? He said it himself!"

"Yes, but you're the crook. Not me."

"Too bad you're only witnesses are birds. You are the one that built the robot that made all this possible."

A policeman overhearing the conversation walked over to the two arguing men.

"Is it true?"

"Only the design. Besides, it was an animatron, not a robot."

"But because of you, all of this happened. You have your fingerprints all over what you built."

"Heh. I enjoy the psychology that you're doing here."

Abe pulled out his iPhone.

"You know," he said, playing with the screen of the iPhone, "I like the iPhone. You can listen to music, text, play games, download different apps…and watch videos. There's one video I really like."

He motioned the policeman that had walked over to him to look at the screen. The policeman saw a video of a leader in the warehouse, talking to someone on the phone. The screen moved, as the voice of the leader was still being heard. The screen changed into two men sitting in the chairs around a rounded table. Near them was a crate that had two cages on top of them. They contained the Spinx's Macaws. The video then ended. Abe smirked as the police officer watching the video looked at the worried leader.

"They always say a picture says a thousand words," commented Abe. "I think a one-minute video says ten thousand words."

The officer faced Abe.

"May I borrow that to download it into the computer?"

"Can I just send you the video through a text message?"

The officer was surprised by this.

"Kid, that is confidential."

"Fine. I'll just send it to Doctor Tulio Monterio of Rio de Janeiro. Pick it up with him."

"Why can't I just see it?"

"You did."

"You know what I mean," said the Latino officer.

"This is an iPhone 4."

"Yeah, so?"

"So…I don't let anyone touch it. It took me three weeks to get it and cost me around three hundred dollars, not including all the things I downloaded to it."

"But I need the video. I am not going to give you any information about me. Either you give it to me or we arrest you for restraining evidence."

Abe sighed and reluctantly handed his iPhone to the officer. He smiled and walked pack to the police car. Abe watched him carefully. Jewel tapped his neck with her beak, causing him to look at her.

"Yes?" inquired Abe.

Jewel rubbed his cheek with her head. Abe smiled lightly. Jewel lifted her head up and faced the smiling Abe.

"You're welcome Jewel."

Soon, a car pulled up. The riders parked the car behind the police cars and ran towards the crime scene. They were stopped by an officer.

"Stop. You can't enter."

"You don't understand. We need to get through."

That voice, thought Blu.

Blu squawked, getting Abe's attention. Blu pointed his wing at where the voice was coming from. Abe looked at where he pointed and nodded. He walked over the two people with the policewoman following him.

"Abe?" wondered the male.

"Hey Tulio and Linda."

Blu squawked happily. He flew over to Linda's shoulder as Jewel landed on Tulio's shoulders. The baby macaws were handed to the two. Linda held Elena as Tulio held the boys. The policewoman left.

"What happened? I mean when you called and told me to call the police to meet you at this address, I didn't know what was going on."

"Tulio, those Japanese men were poachers. They were educated men, but they were blinded by greed."

"Great," he said to himself. "Now how am I going to keep Blu and Jewel safe?"

"You're not," simply replied Abe.

Tulio faced Abe with a look of interest on his face.

"See, we rely on technology too much. I mean we have the computer, the television, the cell phone, and so on. I mean we overuse the internet and satellite for communications, sales, and finding relationships. Before, we depended on the paperboy to deliver the news. Now, we can just look it up online. Now, I'm not saying technology is bad. It was handy things like the GPS and the cell phone that arrested these men and saved Blu and his family. It's fine, but at the end of the day, we mustn't put all of our faith in technology. Hell, I always start with a paper and pencil when I'm designing something. Architects, engineers, and animation studios mostly start with story boards and a script on a sheet of paper. The animatron I designed was to show you that you didn't have faith in these birds. You were so caught up with the help of technology to ensure their safety when you really just needed to believe that they will survive. Blu is very smart, despite on a couple of occasions, and Jewel is a very protective mother and will defend her family. I had firsthand experience with her protection skills. You just need to have faith in them, and they will live for the next couple of generations."

"Yeah, but-" began Tulio.

Linda placed her hand on his shoulder. He faced her.

"He's right. We forgot to believe in Blu and Jewel. That incident with the Harpy Eagle shook us, but that doesn't mean that we must throw away the confidence we have for Blu and Jewel."

Blu smiled and rubbed Linda's cheek. Tulio smiled.

"I suppose."

Jewel pecked Tulio's cheek.

"Ow. Alright, alright. I have faith."

Abe smiled. He turned around and looked at where the police with his iPhone was. He didn't see him anywhere. On top of that, his car was not there.

"What the hell? Where is the policeman?"

"Which one?" asked Linda.

"I gave my iPhone for evidence and…"

Abe saw a police car zoomed by. It was being driven by the officer he gave his iPhone to.

"Son of a bitch. The officer is getting away with my iPhone."

"You gave an officer your iPhone?" wondered Tulio.

"Yes, he needed to download the video into his computer," Abe said hurriedly.

"Did you give him your USB cable?"

Abe had a dimwitted expression on his face. Without saying bye, he ran to where he parked the motorcycle he 'borrowed' and turned it on. He took to the streets and sped off in pursuit of the officer. Tulio and Linda looked at each other with confused faces. Blu shook his head.

"So, Abe can be caught up in the moment too."

Linda faced Blu.

"You're ready to go home."

"Yes."

"I'll take that squawk as a yes."

Tulio and Linda walked back to the car. They got into the Kia Sportage. Tulio started the car as Linda sat in the passenger's seat and the macaws sat in the back seat. Blu faced Jewel.

"Everything worked out. I was bit worried it wouldn't."

"I'm just glad everything's alright," said Jewel.

"Well, on our behalf."

"Papa?" wondered Jalin.

"Yes?"

"If that man told these two people that they rely on tech-no-lo-gy too much, why is he chasing that policeman for that thing with the vi-de-o?"

"Well…um… I don't know."

Leoncio tapped his brother on the shoulder. Jalin faced him. Leoncio had the I-know-why face and explained.

"Because he's a hypo-crite."

* * *

><p>Six months had passed since the whole Japanese-birdnaping incident. Blu had returned to the nest with some breakfast that morning. The kids all walked to their Papa to get some food. Jewel smiled and walked to greet her mate. She kissed him.<p>

"Good morning Blu."

"Good morning Jewel."

"Papa, what will be for breakfast today?" asked Jalin.

"Well, I got some fruit and nuts. Oh, and I stopped by at Linda's bookstore and she gave me a cupcake."

"Cupcake!" beamed Leoncio. "Out of my way. I want the first bite."

"Hold on," said Blu, who got annoyed by his son's impatience. "You will all get a bite after you eat some fruit."

"Awww," chorused the kids.

As Blu placed the small fruits and nuts in front of the kids, a voice echoed through the tree den.

"Blu! Jewel!"

The mates faced each other and looked outside. Jalin and Elena walked outside. They looked down.

"Mama," said Elena, "it's the strange man that made the bird that made the other men kidnap us."

Blu squawked happily and flew down to greet Abe. He landed on his shoulders. Jewel and her kids also flew down to greet the scientist. Jewel landed on his other shoulder as the kids landed on his arms, which he slightly extended out.

"Abe, what are you doing here?" asked Blu.

"You're probably wondering why I'm back. EPA decided that since I have the technology, my job is to find rare and new species of animals in the planet."

"So we're the first?" wondered Jewel happily.

"So far, you're the 126th rare wild animal on my list."

Jewel and Blu half-closed their eyes.

"But you will always be one of my best animal friends I've met. I'm glad to see you once again, my blue friends."

Blu and Jewel softened their expressions and smiled. Abe looked down at the chicks in his arms.

"As expected, they know how to fly. That's great, but aren't you missing one?"

Blu and Jewel looked down at the two chicks. Leoncio was missing. The two chicks realized what might be happening and quickly flew up to the tree den. Jewel followed. Blu was about to take off, but Abe stopped him. He got out his iPhone 4 and took a photo of Blu. He dropped his hands.

"Blu, you did alright. This is goodbye for now, but I'll see you again."

Blu nodded and flew up to the tree den as Abe walked off in search for other rare animals. Blu landed on the entrance of the tree den to find a crying Elena, an annoyed Jalin, and an angry Jewel. All had looked at Leoncio. His back was on the floor, surrounded by breaded crumbs. Blu walked over to Leoncio.

"Leoncio, you ate the cupcake, didn't you?" he asked in an angry tone.

Leoncio's stomach rumbled.

"My tummy hurts."

Blu huffed and looked at his son.

"Well, was it worth it?"

Jalin remembered how the cupcake tasted. Enrich with sweets, it sent his taste buds on a tropical paradise. The pink frosty opened his eyes and made them sparkle as he swallowed that first bite. Now, he was lying on the floor, feeling fat and good. He faced Blu and smiled.

"Totally."


End file.
